Two new experimental approaches—dietary supplements and gene therapy—might be useful in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, scientists from the United States and New Zealand said last week.

Functional decline in early Parkinson's disease may be slowed by dietary supplementation with the coenzyme Q₁₀, a naturally occurring compound, says a report in the Archives of Neurology

(2002;59:1541-50), while the Food and Drug Administration has just approved the first gene therapy trial for advanced Parkinson's disease. The FDA's decision comes after the report of a successful experiment in gene therapy carried out in rats …