Australian AI flags approved drugs that may slow Sanfilippo syndrome
Australian scientists just used artificial intelligence (AI) to spot existing medicines that might slow down brain damage in children with Sanfilippo syndrome, a rare, fatal form of dementia that mostly affects young children.
Many patients do not live past age 10, so this discovery is a big deal.
The research team tested 63 approved drugs on lab-grown brain cells from affected children and found nine that improved cell health within two weeks.
Approved drugs could reach trials faster
Because these medicines are already approved, they could move to clinical trials faster, possibly speeding up new treatments for families who currently have no options.
As lead researcher Professor Cedric Bardy put it, the findings offer hope by targeting tough symptoms while longer-term solutions like gene therapy are still in the works.