JERUSALEM, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have found that an existing drug may slow the progression of a rare, fatal brain disease in women, Tel Aviv University said in a statement on Sunday.
In their study, published in Nature's Molecular Psychiatry, the team reexamined data from an international clinical trial of over 300 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare, incurable brain disease affecting movement, balance, and thinking.
While the original study concluded that the tauopathy-targeting drug, Davunetide, was safe but ineffective, the new analysis found a different result when examining women and men separately.
Women who received the drug showed a significant slowdown in disease progression, a benefit not seen in men.
The treatment helped women preserve key daily functions, including balance, hand coordination, and routine tasks such as using cutlery, buttoning clothes and washing. They also performed better on tests of memory, language and other thinking skills.
The researchers said the findings could advance research into Alzheimer's and related brain disorders, underscoring the need to develop treatments that account for biological differences between sexes. ■
