Vera Fridman, Peter Novak, William David, Diane McKenna-Yasek, Kailey Walsh, Anne Louise Oaklander, Robert Brown, Thorsten Hornmann, and Florian Eichler.
The L-serine study supported by the Deater Foundation was presented at last year’s Deater Foundation International Symposium and at the American Academy of Neurology’s 2017 Annual meeting. The paper has been submitted for publication.
The study sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of L-serine in patients with HSAN1. Eighteen patients with HSAN1 and prominent sensory loss, foot ulcers, or shooting pains took part. Half received L-serine and half received placebo for a year. The study was “double-blind”, so the researchers did not know which participants received the supplement and which received the placebo. Dr. Eichler at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Brown at the University of Massachusetts collaborated with other researchers for the study. After 48 weeks all participants took L-serine for an additional year. 16 subjects completed the study. There were no serious adverse effects related to L-serine. Testing showed improvement in the L-serine group vs. placebo at one year and improvement in all participants at the end of the study. The study concluded that L-serine is a safe and potentially efficacious treatment for HSAN1.