This may be a turning point in treating neurodegenerative diseases

Success in trials for Huntington's and Spinal Muscular Atrophy raises hopes that diseases such as Alzheimer's and ALS could be tackled using a new class of drugs

They are diseases that threaten more than physical health: memories, personality, and the ability to move and speak are incrementally stolen. And until this year neurodegenerative diseases, from Alzheimer's to ALS, had been entirely unstoppable.

However, a breakthrough in Huntington's disease this week suggests this bleak picture could be about to change. The landmark trial was the first to show that the genetic defect that causes Huntington's could be corrected, raising hopes that the drug will become the first to slow the progress of the disease - or even stop it.