Dr Marina Lynch of Trinity College, Dublin has also been involved in some of the basic scientific studies. LAX-101 is the product of this research programme. To date three main studies specifically on Huntington's disease have been carried out. Dr Basant Puri, of the Hammersmith Hospital in London, has carried out a placebo-controlled trial in seven patients who were hospitalised and requiring 24 hour care. Success was by no means certain since a few patients in the placebo groups stayed unchanged or improved while a few patients in the LAX-101 group deteriorated.
Many people are concerned about the ethical issues involved in placebo-controlled trials.
In order to ensure that a treatment which is effective is made available on the NHS, such trials are therefore an absolute necessity. Laxdale very much understands the concerns of the Huntington's disease community and is therefore trying to complete the studies as quickly as possible. The trial is being conducted at four sites, the Hammersmith Hospital in London, Johns Hopkins Hospital and Emory University in the USA and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. In addition Professor Vaddadi in Melbourne will be continuing with his research programme in collaboration with Laxdale. The multicentre study should start in about mid-November after the ethical committees in the relevant institutions have all given their approval.