Scientists made a 'low-oxygen hypoxia pill': two drugs that make blood release less oxygen into tissues. Given daily to mice that already had Parkinson's-like movement problems, it improved their movement within 1-2 weeks. It also more than doubled lifespan in mice with a rare energy disorder.

A PNAS study shows that an oral hypoxia combination of GBT601 and PT2399 improves Parkinson's-like motor deficits and extends lifespan in mice. In the Ndufs4-knockout Leigh syndrome model, median survival rose from 62 days to 158 days. The combination also reversed motor phenotypes in an alpha-synuclein toxicity Parkinson's model and halted progression of motor problems in a Friedreich ataxia model. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2618654123.