A CRIPPLING disease which kills half its victims within three years could be treatable following drug trials in Preston.

Motor neurone disease claimed the lives of David Niven, journalist Jill Tweedie and England football manager Don Revie, and until now its terrible progress seemed unstoppable.

But trials of the revolutionary drug Rilutek, spearheaded at Royal Preston Hospital by consultant neurologist Professor Douglas Mitchell, are being hailed as the first breakthrough in its treatment for 127 years.

The drug was licensed this week after results showed it could increase sufferers' life spans by 35 per cent.

Prof Mitchell said: "Motor neurone disease is one of the most devastating conditions known to medical science. It kills more people every day than AIDS and no drug hitherto has been shown to modify the course of the disease.

"No-one is saying this drug is a cure, but it is the first chink in the armour. The real hope is that it will lead to more effective treatments as chemotherapy did for cancer."

Anne-Mary Robinson, aged 56, from Fulwood was one of the 24 patients given the experimental treatment. Once a keen climber, she now uses a wheelchair. Anne-Mary said: "It is a cruel disease. My brain is still alert, but it feels like my body is closing down. It is as though I am slowly being shut into a box.

"When I found out I had the disease I was more or less written off. We just hope these tablets will arrest the disease for a while."

Licensing Rilutek comes at the end of a three-year clinical trial involving 30 neurology centres world-wide and 1,000 volunteers.

At Preston, 24 patients entered the initial trial with a further 30 opting to try the drug before licence was granted.

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