It is with great enthusiasm that we announce that CNC is part of a European collaboration for the investigation of Machado Joseph Disease!

The collaboration, "European Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 3/Machado-Joseph disease Initiative" or ESMI is led by the Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen - DZNE​ in collaboration with the French pharmaceutical company Servier​ Laboratories. The main objective of this European research consortium is to pave the way for drug testing and thus contribute to better treatment options.

Machado Joseph's disease, or Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3, is a neurodegenerative, hereditary and incurable disease. In this disease, the interaction between different muscles is compromised, and therefore, movement coordination is disturbed. Patients experience insecurity in gait, with a tendency to fall, difficulty in writing or in grasping and holding objects. In addition, there may be a potential impairment of speech.

Current treatments for this disease alleviate symptoms but do not stop the progression of the disease, which makes it crucial to develop new drugs and therapies that fulfill this purpose.

Read the full article here.

Carolina Caetano