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From: Holger Stenzel
Date: 06 Oct 2005
Time: 14:11:07 -0500
Remote Name: 84.182.231.19
Dr. Ludo Max from the University of Connecticut plans a study with Abilify (Aripiprazole). The title is: Bristol-Myers Squibb: A pilot study of the efficacy and safety of Aripiprazole in the treatment of stuttering http://www.advance.uconn.edu/2004/041025/04102506.htm He sent me this mail: Dear Mr. Stenzel, The various studies that have been conducted with dopamine receptor blockers (such as, for example, olanzapine) generally suggest that some participants have more modest improvements (25-30%) whereas others have more dramatic improvements (up to 80%), with the average somewhere around a 50% improvement. At this point, we do not know yet whether or not Aripiprazole will have similar or better results. We feel confident, however, that -- based on its specific effects (stabilizing dopamine levels rather than simply lowering them) -- it should have fewer and less severe side-effects than risperidone and other dopamine receptor blockers. Due to a variety of reasons (mostly related to bureaucratic difficulties with the human subjects approval for a collaboration between our main campus, where I am, and our medical school, where my collaborators are -- and this in turn has caused problems for the funding), we have completed a relatively long (16 weeks) trial only with one subject. This one subject show a rather dramatic improvement from about 20% stuttered syllables in conversational speech to less than 5% and from very long stuttering moments (5-10 seconds) to very short stuttering moments (less than 1 second). Unfortunately, that is all the news that there is to report at this time. It has been very frustrating to be unable to continue with the planned, larger study and I keep hoping that the administrative problems can be solved soon so that this work can continue and so that we can pursue new sources of funding (the original source may be no longer available due to the delays, which is of course extremely frustrating and unfortunate). Thank you for your interest, Ludo