How Fast Can A Neurological Disease Progress Als Lou Gherigs Disease Ms

Why is it so difficult to come up with a cure for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Lou Gehrig's disease?

Imagine drawing a graph of the progress of a person with Parkinson's Disease: it will usually look like a line that slopes gradually downward over a period of 10 to 20 years. Since there is no laboratory test to measure the progress of the disease, the points on the graph are based on subjective judgement of the person's condition.Now suppose you give the person a drug that you think will slow the progression of the disease. This will change the slope of the graph slightly, but it will probably take many years (and lots of patients) before you know if the drug works. Add to this all the usual things that slow down drug trials. One thing that would help is to have a lab test (biomarker) so that the slope of the graph can be measured more accurately.Now if you invent a wonder drug that quickly reverses the effects of the disease, it will be a lot easier to tell if it works. This kind of drug would have to "fix" neurons that have suffered damage, or replace ones that have died, so it is going to be rare. Levodopa comes close, by replacing the neurotransmitter that some neurons have stopped producing, but it does not reverse the disease.Edit: The people with PD in your drug trial are almost certainly taking levodopa which reverses the symptoms of the disease. In order to measure the effect of your new treatment, they will need to go off the levodopa for some time, which is very difficult for someone with PD.

What is the difference between supranuclear palsy and ALS?

They are related, but different conditions. I'll give a (necessarily brief and general) outlook of both, putting emphasis in significant differences:Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), or the Steele-Richardson-Olszewski syndrome, is a rare degenerative disease involving the gradual deterioration and death of specific volumes of the brain.It causes serious and progressive problems with control of gait and balance, along with complex eye movement and thinking problems.One of the classic signs of the disease is an inability to aim the eyes properly, which occurs because of lesions in the area of the brain that coordinates eye movements. Some individuals describe this effect as a blurring.Affected individuals often show alterations of mood and behavior, including depression and apathy as well as progressive mild dementia.Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease" and sometimes as motor neurone disease (MND), is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects specific nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord (motor neurons).Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death, and when the motor neurons die the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost.ALS is characterised by muscle spasticity and rapidly progressive weakness due to muscle wasting. This results in difficulty speaking, swallowing, and breathing.With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.

Why is it so difficult to come up with a cure for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Lou Gehrig's disease?

Imagine drawing a graph of the progress of a person with Parkinson's Disease: it will usually look like a line that slopes gradually downward over a period of 10 to 20 years. Since there is no laboratory test to measure the progress of the disease, the points on the graph are based on subjective judgement of the person's condition.Now suppose you give the person a drug that you think will slow the progression of the disease. This will change the slope of the graph slightly, but it will probably take many years (and lots of patients) before you know if the drug works. Add to this all the usual things that slow down drug trials. One thing that would help is to have a lab test (biomarker) so that the slope of the graph can be measured more accurately.Now if you invent a wonder drug that quickly reverses the effects of the disease, it will be a lot easier to tell if it works. This kind of drug would have to "fix" neurons that have suffered damage, or replace ones that have died, so it is going to be rare. Levodopa comes close, by replacing the neurotransmitter that some neurons have stopped producing, but it does not reverse the disease.Edit: The people with PD in your drug trial are almost certainly taking levodopa which reverses the symptoms of the disease. In order to measure the effect of your new treatment, they will need to go off the levodopa for some time, which is very difficult for someone with PD.