New Method Holds Potential to Fight Botulinum Toxin by Angela Mohan on January 7, 2021 at 3:23 PM Science Translational Medicine by Patrick McNutt, PhD, of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. 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." In 2010, Konstantin Ichtchenko (New York University School of Medicine) conceived of a novel 'trojan horse' strategy to treat botulism. This strategy is based on using a non-toxic form of BoNT to deliver therapeutic antibodies to paralyzed neurons, blocking wild-type toxin activity and accelerating recovery from paralysis.