Yonsei University College of Medicine

THURSDAY, Sept. 19, 2024 -- A specific class of diabetes drug appears to lower people’s risk for dementia and Parkinson’s disease, a new study shows. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, also known as gliflozins, lower blood sugar by prompting the kidneys to filter sugar out of the bloodstream and excrete it in urine, researchers said. But these drugs might also protect brain health, researchers found. SGLT2 inhibitors are associated with a 20% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, and a 30% reduced risk of dementia caused by blood vessel disease in the brain, researchers reported Sept. 18 in the journal Neurology . “The results are generally consistent, even after adjusting for factors like blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol and kidney function,” said researcher Dr. Minyoung Lee of Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 359,000 people with type 2 diabetes who started taking diabetes meds between 2014 and 2019 in South Korea. People prescribed SGLT2 inhibitors were compared with people taking other oral diabetes drugs. Alzheimer’s disease among people on SGLT2 inhibitors was just under 40 cases per 10,000 person-years, compared to about 64 cases for people on other diabetes drugs, results show. Person-years represent the number of people in the study and the amount of time each person spent in the study. Vascular dementia rates among people on SGLT2 inhibitors were nearly 11 cases per 10,000 person-years, compared to nearly 19 for people on other drugs. And Parkinson’s rates were a little more than nine cases per 100,000 compared to nearly 14 for those taking other drugs. “We know that these neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s disease are common and the number of cases is growing as the population ages, and people with diabetes are at increased risk of cognitive impairment, so it’s encouraging to see that this class of drugs may provide some protection against dementia and Parkinson’s disease,” Lee said in a journal news release. However, Lee noted that people in the study were followed for less than five years. More research is needed to see whether SGLT2 inhibitors could protect the brain long-term. Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 18, 2024 -- For patients with type 2 diabetes, sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) use is associated with reduced risks for incident dementia and Parkinson disease (PD), according to a study published online Sept. 18 in Neurology . Hae Kyung Kim, M.D., from the Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues examined the association of SGLT2i use with risks for incident dementia and PD in a retrospective cohort study of 1,348,362 participants (aged 40 years and older) with type 2 diabetes who started antidiabetic drugs from 2014 to 2019. A cohort of 358,862 participants was included after propensity score matching (1:1 ratio for SGLT2i to other oral antidiabetic drugs [OADs]). The researchers identified 6,837 incident dementia or PD events. In terms of the individual end points, SGLT2i use was associated with a reduced risk for Alzheimer disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), and PD (adjusted hazard ratios, 0.81, 0.69, and 0.80, respectively), with a six-month drug use lag period. Compared with use of other OADs, SGLT2i use was also associated with a reduced risk for all-cause dementia and for all-cause dementia and PD (adjusted hazard ratios, 0.79 and 0.78, respectively). Sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index, diabetic complications, comorbidities, and medications did not affect the association between SGLT2i use and the reduced risk for neurodegenerative disease. Results were generally consistent in a sensitivity analysis further adjusting for bioclinical variables from health screening tests. "These findings suggest that SGLT2is may offer neurologic benefits among patients with type 2 diabetes, although additional studies are required to validate the long-term stability of these observations," the authors write. Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

SEOUL, South Korea I July 09, 2024 I S.BIOMEDICS (KOSDAQ: 304360) announced positive one-year assessment data from the first 3 participants (first low dose cohort) of Phase I/IIa clinical trial for Parkinson’s disease with TED-A9, hESC (human embryonic stem cell)-derived midbrain dopaminergic progenitors. The data demonstrates that 3 participants showed safety and efficacy of TED-A9 in a one-year follow-up. The clinical trial was conducted at Severance Hospital of Yonsei University in South Korea led by Prof. Jin-Woo Chang, a neurosurgeon and Prof. Phil Hyu Lee, a neurologist. For the 3 participants who received initial low dose (3.15 million cells), MRI and CT scans after one year revealed no adverse effects related to the cell transplantation or surgery. Moreover, the MDS-UPDRS Part III (off) evaluation, which objectively measures motor functions, showed a mean decrease of 12.7 points, from baseline 61.7 to 49.0 one-year post treatment. The MDS-UPDRS Part III (off) evaluation indicated significant improvement in their motor abilities. Improvement was also observed in symptoms such as wearing off and freezing of gait. DAT brain imaging (FP-CIT-PET), conducted one-year post transplantation, revealed an increase in dopamine transporters (DAT), suggesting the potential engraftment of dopamine neurons, which correlated with improvements in the patients’ Parkinson’s symptoms. “Although this clinical evaluation only targets the first 3 low-dose patients, but not all 12 subjects, no adverse issues related to transplant surgery or cell safety were observed in one-year post transplantation. Importantly, the clinical results demonstrated very promising efficacy,” said Prof. Dong-Wook Kim at Yonsei University College of Medicine and CTO of S.BIOMEDICS. “The results are believed to align closely with the findings from our preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies. We are excited that TED-A9 could be a fundamental treatment that directly replaces dopaminergic neurons lost in patients with Parkinson’s disease.” Assessment data of further participants (first high dose cohort) will be announced in September or October of 2024 after a one-year follow-up. About TED-A9 and Phase I/IIa clinical trial TED-A9 is an investigational cell therapy designed to replace ventral midbrain-specific dopaminergic cells lost in patients with Parkinson’s disease. These ventral midbrain-specific dopaminergic cells are derived from hESCs by exclusively utilizing small molecules only. TED-A9 represents a significant advancement in the field, offering highly purified dopamine cells derived from hESCs. Through surgical procedure, these hESC-derived dopaminergic progenitor (precursor) cells (TED-A9) are transplanted to three segments of the putamen; the anterior, middle, and posterior sections, with three tracks per each putamen. Bilateral putamina received cell transplantation in a single surgical procedure, with cells injected at three points within each track. After transplantation, the expectation is that the transplanted dopaminergic progenitor cells will mature into dopaminergic neurons which will supply the dopamine that Parkinson’s patients are lacking, restoring the motor function of patients. The Phase I/IIa clinical trial is conducted on 12 participants who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease for more than 5 years and exhibited motor complications such as wearing-off, freezing of gait or dyskinesia. The participant’s age was between 50 and 75 years old. TED-A9 were administered to 6 participants in the low-dose group (3.15 million cells) and to another 6 participants in the high-dose group (6.30 million cells). An initial cohort of three patients was enrolled at a low dose to assess initial safety, including dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) evaluation, over a period of up to 3 months post-transplantation. There were no safety concerns within this timeframe. Thus, an additional 3 patients were enrolled at a high dose for evaluation over another 3-month period post-transplantation. As no safety issues arose during this extended period, the clinical trial continued by adding three further patients to each of the low-dose and high-dose groups, totaling 12 patients. The final participant was administered with TED-A9 on February 2024. The primary objective of the Phase I/IIa trial is to assess the safety and exploratory efficacy of TED-A9 transplantation over two years post-transplant. Safety will be monitored for additional 3 years, making it a total 5 years. About S.BIOMEDICS Established in 2005, S.BIOMEDICS is at the forefront of stem cell therapy, focusing on regenerative medicine powered by data-driven biology. Based on two core platform technologies, S.BIOMEDICS currently develops seven cell therapy programs, targeting non-curable diseases. Its leading programs are under clinical stage accelerating the journey of cell medicine as shown below: For more information about S.BIOMEDICS, visit www.sbiomedics.com . S.BIOMEDICS is listed on the Korea Exchange (KOSDAQ: 304360) and is also the founder and controller of S.THEPHARM ( www.sthepharm.com ), a corporation specializing in anti-aging products such as HA-Filler. More Information about the Phase 1/2a clinical trial for Parkinson’s disease is available at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05887466) . SOURCE: S.Biomedics