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bananas

(27,509 posts)
Thu Apr 25, 2013, 06:08 AM Apr 2013

Drug that could reverse depression symptoms draws interest of NFL Alumni Association

http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2013/04/nfl_alumni_association_to_invi.html


Junior Seau, a 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker, committed suicide last year after bouts with depression. A study of Seau's brain after his death revealed significant head trauma due to years of hits on the football field. (Stephen Dunn/Getty)

Drug that could reverse depression symptoms draws interest of NFL Alumni Association

By Craig Wolff/The Star-Ledger on April 24, 2013

The NFL Alumni Association announced today that it has invited thousands of former players to take part in a test for a powerful new drug which holds the promise of reversing major depression symptoms and even regenerating damaged parts of the brain.

Amid a class action lawsuit over the effects of years of heavy hitting on the football field, the old-timers say they are now looking for answers not just from lawyers but from scientists. They are also mindful that a number of former players in the throes of depression have committed suicide, careful to avoid shooting themselves in the head, and that their families have donated their brains for research. These tests then, they said, present a chance for former players to assist the research while they are still alive.

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The drug, known as NSI-189, was created by Neuralstem, a Maryland research company. The drug, still in early clinical trials, the researchers say, do something typical antidepressants do not — regenerate parts of the brain that have suffered damage and even atrophied. It can, they say, not only reverse depression symptoms but also the loss of cognitive abilities.

Richard Garr, the company's president, said he hopes that former players will enlist for what are known as Phase 2 trials.

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