Breakthrough in drug delivery may benefit SMA

This has been in the papers today, so I have written a summary for the website. The press focussed on Alzheimer’s disease but there are potential benefits for muscle disease – especially SMA.

Research part-funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign has reported a new way of delivering drugs to specific tissues such as the brain. In experiments on mice, researchers led by Dr Matthew Wood at the University of Oxford, investigated the use of the body’s own transporters – exosomes – to deliver drugs. Delivery to muscle and the brain were tested in this study but was most successful for the brain so this was studied further. This new technique has the potential to deliver drugs to treat a wide range of conditions. In particular it shows promise for conditions that affect the brain or central nervous system such as spinal muscular atrophy. The researchers commented that with further research exosomes may also be able to efficiently target muscle.

Read the full article here:
http://www.muscular-dystrophy.org/research/news/3481_breakthrough_in_drug_delivery_may_benefit_people_with_muscle_disease