Clévio Nóbrega’s project aims to test a drug to delay the progression of Type 2 Cerebellar Ataxia, a rare and incurable disease.

Clévio Nóbrega, CBMR researcher and professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine (University of Algarve), obtained a 22.000 euros grant to study, over the next two years, Type 2 Cerebellar Ataxia, a rare neurological disease, without cure, that affects balance, coordination and speech.

The project, entitled “Neuroprotective therapeutic approach of Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2: pharmacological targeting of AMPK,” is funded by ATAXIA UK, a private, non-profit institution, that seeks to help patients and families affected by the disease.

The objective of the research, to be developed at the CBMR, in collaboration with the CNC – Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology, is ambitious: to test an existing drug authorized for human use, in order to delay the progression of the disease.

At the moment there isn’t no treatment for this disease, only symptomatic treatments, incapable of delaying or preventing its progression.

So, Clévio Nóbrega and his team may take an important step in the treatment of the disease since the applicability of the drug may be accelerated because it isn’t an experimental drug.

Starting in october 2017, the project of Clévio Nóbrega is part of a series of innovative projects around the world that seek, through the financing of their research, to develop treatments and alternatives in the scope of the various types of Ataxias.