Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News
  • Published:

New technologies deliver in treating neurological diseases

Nature Medicine volume 10, page 1267 (2004)Cite this article

New techniques that use RNA interference (RNAi) and osmotic pumps to deliver medicines are moving to clinical trials after proving successful in animal models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). If the methods are successful in humans, researchers say, the results may be applicable to other neurological disorders.

Delivering therapies to the cells that need them is a daunting obstacle in treating neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson disease and Huntington disease. Researchers have had some success in animal models, but none of the therapies have yet proven effective in people. Some researchers say that may be because the medicines did not reach the target cells at high enough concentrations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. San Diego

    Emily Singer

Authors
  1. Emily Singer
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Hopes rise for RNA therapy as mouse study hits target

RNA therapy beckons as firms prepare for clinical trials

http://www.nature.com/focus/rnai/

Related external links

The ALS Association

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Singer, E. New technologies deliver in treating neurological diseases. Nat Med 10, 1267 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1204-1267a

Download citation

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1204-1267a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing