25/09/2025
Lots of bad medical news in the media right now (Trump, RFK spouting untruths and outright silliness - please ignore all of their rhetoric).
However, in the UK, researchers have developed a very exciting treatment for Huntington’s Disease.
Huntington’s is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that runs through families, it is genetic, and is autosomal dominant, which means only one copy of the faulty gene is needed for a person to be affected. Usually it is detected in middle age, AFTER potential children have been born.
It is fatal, a horrible way to die, and thus far has been untreatable.
Researchers have found a reduction in progression of symptoms by 75% for people with detectable Huntington’s. This is really, really exciting for those affected but who are not showing symptoms (usually young adults in their 20s and 30s who have seen a parent affected and are rightly terrified).
This is not a “cure” as such, but if given to affected but asymptomatic patients, it may well be.
These researchers deserve a Nobel Prize. Not an orange muppet and his leather faced sidekick.