An experimental drug is showing promise for spinal cord injury patients, with early trial participants reporting improved walking and hand function.
NVG-291 is given as a series of injections under the skin and is designed to help nerve fibres regrow around, or through, scar tissue at the injury site.
Twenty patients were enrolled in a four-month study at Chicago’s Shirley Ryan Ability Lab.
Leslie Fuller, a patient from the Chicago area who was involved in a rollover accident that damaged her spine, was one of those enrolled in the trial.
She said: “Essentially, I felt my entire body wake up.”
Fuller reported that her sense of smell returned first, which is often disrupted after damage to the central nervous system, followed by improvements in bladder sensation and how her body regulates temperature.
The drug was developed at Case Western Reserve University by Dr Brad Lang working alongside researcher Jerry Silver.
Axons are the cables that deliver messages from the brain to the body.
After trauma to the spinal cord, they stop in their tracks, still alive but either sitting idle or embedded in scar tissue that builds up at the injury site.
In 2011, researchers found that when NVG-291 was administered to animal models, the axons regrew.
Dr Brad Lang said: “If they ignore the scar, they will grow in it or around and try to find their home, bypass.
“Our animals were walking around our table with their tail up, they were balancing, they were urinating properly again in about 6 to 7 weeks after daily treatment.
He added: “It’s the dream of every single scientist to see one of your ideas come to fruition.
“To see that I’ve made a change in somebody’s life. It’s incredible.”
Will Roark, a physical therapist with NeuroHope at Driven NeuroRecovery Center near Indianapolis, said: “We don’t know what this looks like in a year or two years.
“It’s not something that happens quickly or within a few weeks it takes a lot of consistent repetitions challenge the nervous system and then see what happens.”
NVG-291 is not yet approved.
Another clinical trial is planned for summer 2026.
The drug may one day be used for stroke, traumatic brain injury or hearing loss and possibly neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, a condition that causes progressive damage to nerve cells.
