<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A series of smart trials to fast-track treatments to slow or stop </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/health" rel="" target="_blank" title="Parkinson's disease"><span>Parkinson's disease</span></a><span> is gathering pace across the country.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Researchers are currently recruiting patients for the next phase of the trials as part of a national drive to urgently tackle the condition</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Dr Derrick Beech, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's a few years ago, doesn't experience tremors.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-tariffs-china-president-xi-jinping-responds-first-public-comments/4cba9448-e68b-40cb-8ea7-6af2cdb2abf2"><strong><span>Chinese president rebukes Trump in first public comments about tariffs</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's his walking ability that has worsened over time.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's so varied from one person to another, my issues are more about mobility, speaking and writing," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He takes three pills a day to relieve the symptoms.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/new-trials-hope-to-stop-parkinsons-disease-in-its-tracks/01f58e9e-42d6-4ec9-96b3-fb493b3de789" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The simple treatment is you replace the dopamine that you've lost," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The treatment helps patients with Parkinson's cope, but it doesn't directly treat or stop the course of the disease.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Certainly that's improved quality of life but nothing that's slowing the disease or stopping it in its tracks," Macquarie University's Professor of Cognitive Neurology Simon Lewis said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Derrick volunteered to test existing medications, in the hope they could help change the course of disease.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's part of a multi-million dollar project called the Australian Parkinson's Mission.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/company-fine-doubled-to-3m-for-workplace-manslaughter/2e54cd8c-c756-4506-b6d5-2c7ab638a1ef"><strong><span>Judges double mammoth fine over forklift death</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>For researchers, it is about "being able to tap into drugs we know are safe, available that we could use and maybe even translate into the clinic quickly," Lewis said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The smart trials involve testing a variety of medicines used for other conditions, such as albuterol tablets for asthma and alogliptin to treat type 2 diabetes.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The next phase will test a simple cough medicine ambroxol, and an antibiotic doxycycline.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The medicines target different pathways such as inflammation and a gene called alpha-synuclein implicated in disease.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So this is the world's first platform trial, what that means we get to try different drugs in the same trial, the same protocol" Lewis said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We have blood biomarkers that can tell us, did that drug actually engage the target, did it reduce inflammation, did it modulate those other pathways we think are important."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Results from the first stage are likely to be released later this year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A key feature of these trials is teasing out which patient would benefit most from each treatment</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Interested volunteers can find out more information </span><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScIkZ7lMnT4bhR_Jcng-wPqra_NtlQlGR0G_FfSJTSzRE-9Xg/viewform" rel="" target="_blank" title="at the link here"><span>at the link here</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></a><strong><span>: Stay across 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