Science / Medicine : Dystrophy Drug Fails Test

People with the most common form of muscular dystrophy seem to regain some of their strength when given the synthetic steroid prednisone, researchers from the Ohio State College of Medicine said last week. But the doctors said the potential long-term risks of the drug are too serious, and the benefits still too uncertain, to warrant its widespread use as a treatment for the muscle-wasting disease.

The research, at centers in New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Missouri, involved victims of Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, a fatal genetic disease usually found in boys. A three-year study published in 1974 found that prednisone treatments did not help the disease, but the researchers decided to test the drug again for six months to see if it would stop or reverse muscle deterioration.

There were limited improvements, they reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. Prednisone improved the strength and function of patients for three months, “followed by apparent stabilization for three more months.” Patients who required leg braces and wheel chairs before treatment continued to need them.

Prednisone, used to treat severe allergies, inflammation and cancer, also has potentially serious side effects, including softening of the bones, water retention and harm to the lungs and heart.