A new study by The University of Alabama at Birmingham has a potential treatment for an illness that can leave victims paralyzed.
Guillain-Barre syndrome, also known as GBS, attacks the nerves and immune system leaving some victims unable to move. The new study has discovered an antibody that can block the molecule that helps transport cells that spread GBS.
Dr. Erobo Ubogu is a researcher at UAB. He says there has not been a new treatment for GBS in 25 years and it is costing the health care system billions of dollars each year.
“For a relatively rare condition, it’s an expensive condition from the medical economic standpoint. It costs the health care system up to $2 billion a year, because many of these patients who are in the hospital are really devastated and end up spending weeks to months in the hospital.”
Ubogu says UAB researchers have reached out to pharmaceutical companies in hopes of taking their potential treatment to the clinical trial stage. He says it could take anywhere from 5 to 10 years before it could become a new therapy.