A CURE FOR STUTTERING HAS SUCCESSFULLY PASSED CLINICAL TRIALS

9 stuttering men participated in the test of the first medication for stuttering. The test was carried out by American researchers from Riverside (University of California, California). After eight weeks of taking the medication, all participants began to stutter less. After taking the medication the volunteers with varying severity of stuttering had a more fluent speech and faster reading aloud, and the stuttering time became shorter as well.

The authors of the study said that only two men with the most severe degree of stuttering improved their condition slightly. In the rest participants of the experiment, the progress was more significant. The medication did not harm or cause side effects in the volunteers. The effect of the medication is aimed at stuttering specifically, because earlier experiments have shown that when the neurotransmitter dopamine increases its activity, it makes a person to stutter.

Now the researchers want to carry out an experiment with a larger number of participants. In 2020, 100 people will take the medication for three months. Then the researchers plan to increase the period of use of the medication to one year. If the following clinical trials are successful as the previous one, then the medication will have a chance to become the first approved medicine for this type of speech impairment.

The first cause responsible for the development of stuttering is not known yet. Doctors only state that the disease is caused by a stressful environment and genetics as well.

SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY