The University of Dundee and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have entered into a joint research project to tackle Huntington's disease, an inherited brain disorder.
Professor Susann Schweiger of of the University of Dundee as discovered a mechanism that controls production of the disease-causing protein involved in Huntington's Disease.
The joint research project brings together expertise in molecular genetics, behaviour, brain physiology and drug development in an exciting synergistic collaboration with researchers at GSK.
Huntington's Disease is a devastating condition with symptoms typically beginning between 30 to 50 years of age. Patients may suffer from memory problems, anxiety and depression but all will eventually develop severe movement problems, leaving them unable to walk and care for themselves. There is currently no cure and patients die within 10-15 years of onset.
As Huntington's Disease is relatively rare, only affecting around 1 in 5000 of the population, it is classed an 'orphan disease' and consequently has not been seriously 'targeted' by the pharmaceutical industry, until this breakthrough collaboration.
The University and GSK are already engaged in a similar collaboration examining another orphan disease, Recessive Dystrophic Epidermylosis Bullosa, another disease for which there are currently no effective treatments.
