Diabetes drug shows promise for traumatic brain injury

Although the death toll is relatively low for people who suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI), it can have severe, life-long consequences for brain function. TBI can impair a patient's mental abilities, impact memory and behavior, and lead to dramatic personality changes. And long-term medical treatment carries a high economic cost.

Now, in research commissioned by the US Air Force, Chaim Pick, a professor at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Nigel Greig of the National Institute of Aging in the US have discovered that exendin-4, a Food and Drug Administration-approved diabetes drug that was in-licensed by US biotech firm Amylin in 2001, significantly minimizes damage in TBI animal models when administered shortly after the initial incident. Originally designed to control sugar levels in the body, the drug has recently been found effective in protecting neurons in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

Prof Pick's collaborators include his TAU colleagues Vardit Rubovitch, Lital Rachmany-Raber, and Shaul Schreiber and David Tweedie of the National Institute of Aging in the US. Detailed in the journal Experimental Neurology, this breakthrough is the first step towards developing a cocktail of medications to prevent as much brain damage as possible following injury, the scientists conclude.