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[00:00.68] Huntington's is one of the most brutal and devastating of all diseases.
[00:05.46] It's caused by a faulty gene which progressively destroys brain cells, which then affects all parts of the body.
[00:12.37] Symptoms tend to first appear in your 30s or 40s, leading to death within 20 years.
[00:18.74] The treatment is a gene therapy which is injected deep into the brain during lengthy surgery.
[00:25.64] The drug enters cells and delivers a new piece of DNA, which blocks the production of a faulty protein.
[00:33.08] The trial involved 29 patients.
[00:35.74] Only the topline results have been released by the company, but these show that three years after surgery, the disease was slowed by an average of 75%, based on measures including cognition, movement and the ability to manage in daily life.
[00:50.62] Researchers at University College London, who were part of the trial, said the results were spectacular and would give hope to thousands of patients affected by the disease, and to their children, who have a 50/50 chance of inheriting the condition.
