Related to new research published in the January issue of
Science Translational Medicine, Patrick McNutt, PhD, of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, was part of the research team that demonstrated a new Trojan horse approach that produces strong antidotal efficacy in treating lethal botulism in mice, guinea pigs and rhesus macaque monkeys.
Furthermore, in a companion article, an independent team demonstrated that a related drug has robust efficacy in mice. This is one of those serendipitous moments in science where two groups, working independently, demonstrate similar results for a long-standing problem, McNutt said. We are currently modifying this drug to enhance its therapeutic properties against botulism and exploring whether the same approach can be repurposed to treat other neuronal diseases.