(Jon Tattrie, CBC News) — Canadians affected by Huntington’s disease are cautiously celebrating a breakthrough trial of a drug that safely lowers levels of the harmful huntingtin protein.
Bev Heim-Myers, CEO of the Huntington Society of Canada, said trials in B.C., Germany and the U.K. showed the drug IONIS-HTTRx safely tackles the protein that causes the fatal disease.
“For a long time, we’ve known what to do, and that is lower the Huntington mutation, but this study has actually proven that we can lower it. That’s a very exciting step,” she told CBC News Wednesday.
In Halifax, Brittany Carmichael greeted the news with restrained hope. Her father Steven started developing symptoms of Huntington’s disease when he was about 30; she was two. When she was five, he had to stop working. When she was six, he had to stop driving. When she was 24, he died.
“He was sick most of my life. He moved into long-term care when I was 12 or 13,” she said. “It’s been a huge part of my life.” (…)