Scientists strip ecstasy of dangerous effects

A decade after ecstasy was hailed for its ability to enhance treatment of Parkinson's disease, an Australian scientist has managed to modify the drug, eliminating its harmful effects.

The development means the illicit drug could after all be used to reduce the side-effects of the most common treatment, levodopa.

Levodopa restores movement in Parkinson's patients but also causes jerky, involuntary movements commonly associated with the disease.

At the beginning of the century a former professional stuntman proved ecstasy could improve his treatment but doctors warned it had no therapeutic value because it affected users' moods and killed brain cells.

University of West Australia Associate Professor Matthew Piggott said his team's research, in collaboration with experts in Toronto, had managed to dissociate the positive and negative effects of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as ecstasy.

"By changing the structure of the drug we have a new compound structurally related to MDMA but ... not the other effects of MDMA that are well characterised and the reason why it's abused," Professor Piggott said.

The new compound is called UWA-101 and trials on rats have shown it is unlikely to be psychoactive or toxic to brain cells.

"UWA-101 is even more effective than MDMA at enhancing the quality of levodopa therapy," Professor Piggott said.

"In the best animal model of Parkinson's disease UWA-101 lengthened [the impact of levodopa therapy] by up to 30 per cent.

"More importantly, UWA-101 increased the proportion of [the effect] that was of good quality by 178 per cent. If translated to a medicine, this would mean that Parkinson's patients could take their medication less frequently and get a better quality result from it."

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Scientists strip ecstasy of dangerous effects