Our first pipeline project of research

Cure Parkinson’s is excited to announce the first project from our iLCT Research Pipeline Acceleration Programme is now underway. Led by Professor Michael Schwarzchild, we hope this early-stage laboratory preclinical study will provide the evidence needed to determine if three iLCT-evaluated compounds are ready to progress into clinical trials for people with Parkinson’s.

Our International Linked Clinical Trials (iLCT) initiative involves a committee of the world’s leading Parkinson’s experts gathering annually to review and prioritise potentially disease-modifying drugs and compounds for clinical trials in Parkinson’s. Some that are not prioritised however, often show potential for Parkinson’s but lack key background information, like further biological evidence of efficacy in Parkinson’s, needed to justify progressing these compounds into clinical trials for people with Parkinson’s. The iLCT Research Pipeline Acceleration Programme aims to quickly provide this background evidence by commissioning research to fill the knowledge gaps.

We are excited to announce that the first project in our pipeline programme is now underway. Professor Michael Schwarzchild at Mass General Hospital in the US is leading an early stage preclinical study of three compounds: benfotiamine (a form of vitamin B1), methylcobalamin (a form of vitamin B12), and the anti-inflammatory drug, ibuprofen.

Professor Schwarzchild is testing whether these compounds are able to reduce the build-up of an abnormal toxic form of a protein called alpha-synuclein, to slow disease progression in laboratory models of Parkinson’s. Abnormal alpha-synuclein accumulates in the dopamine producing nerve cells or neurons of people with Parkinson’s and it is thought that this obstructs the neuron’s function, eventually leading to neuronal death. Preventing this process is of major interest to researchers looking for drugs that can slow or stop Parkinson’s progression.