UCL researchers Michael Hanna and Dr Dipa Raja Rayan.
Mexiletine, a decades-old drug previously used to treat abnormal heart rhythms, has been used to alleviate the symptoms of patients with nondystrophic myotonias (NDMs), rare diseases that affect the skeletal muscle and cause functionally limiting stiffness and pain. The preliminary research, published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association , shows that taking mexiletine can improve patient-reported stiffness. NDMs are estimated to affect about 1 in every 100,000 people. They are not life-threatening, but can be debilitating, as patients' muscles contract and won't relax, causing functionally limiting pain, stiffness and fatigue which can often be severe enough to stop the patient from being able to work. The study was carried out in 59 patients at seven neuromuscular referral centres in four countries, the largest number of which were recruited through the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University College London. Professor Michael Hanna at the MRC Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases led a UCL team including MRC training fellow Dipa Raja Rayan. Professor Hanna, a senior author on the paper, says: "These disorders can be extremely severe and the effects can stop people from working.
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