New Drugs for Stuttering May Be On the Horizon

Gerald A. Maguire, M.D.
University of California,
Irvine School of Medicine

alt text From the Stuttering Foundation's summer 2007 newsletter

A medication for stuttering? This question has plagued clinicians for years with the general consensus that it could never be attained. With advancements in neuropharmacology, medical science is now closer than ever in the development of medication treatment for stuttering.

In the last ten years, studies suggest that dopamine-blocking medications are effective in reducing stuttering symptoms.

These studies employed the gold-standard of being placebo-controlled and double-blind (meaning that the subjects and clinicians did not know if the specific individuals were receiving a real pill or a fake pill).

These studies were of relatively limited subject size so further research is warranted before these medications are to be routinely used in stuttering.

No one medication is without the potential of side-effects and this class of medication is associated with weight gain and the potential for blood sugar increases.

However, a novel medication, pagoclone, holds promise as an effective, well-tolerated medication for the treatment of stuttering.

Pagoclone is a medication under development from Indevus Pharmaceuticals.

In May 2006, Indevus released results of the largest pharmacologic trial of stuttering ever completed. Pagoclone affects a natural neurochemical in the brain known as GABA which has been postulated to play a significant role in stuttering.

The study utilized a double-blind, randomized design of over 130 adult individuals who stutter. Pagoclone was found to improve stuttering symptoms in over 50 percent of the individuals treated "statistically greater" than those receiving a placebo.

Pagoclone was found to be well-tolerated with only minor side-effects of headache and fatigue reported in a minority of those treated.

In this study, pagoclone not only improved the fluency of speech but also reduced the social anxiety that often accompanies stuttering. More studies of this compound are being planned, and Indevus is working closely with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to achieve approval so that this medication may one day be routinely available from a physician's prescription.

For the time being, it is only available as part of a research study. The next study of pagoclone will begin this summer, and one can learn more by accessing www.stutteringstudy.com.

In addition, the University of California, Irvine, has received a generous gift from the philanthropists, Granville and Sidney Kirkup, which will support further research on the medical treatment of stuttering.

The University of California, Irvine will participate as a site in the pagoclone study, but will also be investigating other medications for the treatment of stuttering as well.

For further information, please e-mail gerald.maguire@uci.edu.

Even though medications for stuttering may be on the horizon, no form of therapy for stuttering is a cure. Therefore, future treatment will likely involve the combination of medication with speech therapy to achieve the optimal results.

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Emily Blunt

In the final week of March 2009, the public at large may have been surprised to learn that actress Emily Blunt struggled with stuttering early in her life when an article from the newswire circulated around the world about how the actress is grateful to her teacher for encouraging her to act in a school play at age twelve despite her stuttering. Also, Blunt’s March 25 appearance on the Ellen show in which she spent the first six minutes of the interview discussing her childhood stuttering received some coverage as well.

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.

Ken Venturi

As much of the nation watches the U.S. Open Golf Championship, it is impossible not to think about our late friend Ken Venturi. Ken overcame many challenges to win the Open at Congressional in 1964 and go on to become the voice of golf for more than three decades.

However, Ken faced no bigger obstacle than stuttering. Ken Venturi was a champion to those who stutter, going out of his way to share his personal experience when consulted by a colleague, friend, or child who stutters.

Bill Withers

While Bill Withers has long been on the SFA list of “Famous People Who Stutter,” many people probably didn’t realize he stuttered.

The April/May 2006 issue of the magazine Waxpoetics sheds some light on the brilliant career of the famed singer and songwriter.

Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, W.V., Withers was the youngest of six children. When his father died when Withers was small, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as domestics.

Winston Churchill

Seeking to "remove Winston Churchill's stutter by second guessing the diagnosis" indicates neither a truthful retelling of history nor an informed opinion about a complex speech disorder, say experts in the field of speech-language pathology.

Recent news reports that quote Dr. John Mather, a Washington physician, as saying that Churchill's stutter "is a lie" brought adamant critical response from specialists in the field of stuttering and fluency disorders.