British man dying with human variant of ‘mad cow disease’ to become first to be given the only cure for the disease
- Man dying with rare brain condition ‘CJD’ to receive new pioneering treatment
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, human mad cow disease, to be treated with antibody
- The British patient, who is married, wants to live as long as possible for his family
A British man dying with the brain condition Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is to become the first person in the world to receive the only treatment for the disease.
A judge at the Court of Protection last night gave the go-ahead for the pioneering step.
Until now there has been no treatment for CJD – the human variant of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as ‘mad cow disease’.
Scientists at University College London’s Prion Unit, which was established by the Government in the wake of the 1990s BSE outbreak, have spent 20 years working on the treatment, a synthetic antibody called PRN100 [File photo]
It is rare but fatal, usually killing patients within six weeks.
Scientists at University College London’s Prion Unit, which was established by the Government in the wake of the 1990s BSE outbreak, have spent 20 years working on the treatment, a synthetic antibody called PRN100.
It is unproven and experimental.
Because CJD strikes so quickly, by the time patients are diagnosed they often do not have the mental capacity to consent to treatment.
Until now there has been no treatment for CJD – the human variant of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as ‘mad cow disease’ [File photo]
But last night Mr Justice Cohen gave the go-ahead to treat a man with sporadic CJD.
The patient is married and comes from eastern England. His family requested the treatment.
The judge said: ‘Every day he spends with his family is special to him. He wants that to continue as long as possible.’
Sporadic CJD affects roughly 90 people a year in the UK.
It is similar to the variant CJD form, which is thought to be caused by eating meat from cows with BSE.
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