When we say we’re looking for a “cure” for Parkinson’s, we mean we’re looking for treatments that are disease-modifying. These are therapies with the potential to slow, stop, or reverse Parkinson’s progression. Currently, only symptomatic therapies are available for people with Parkinson’s. Cure Parkinson’s is working to change this.
What do we mean by slow, stop and reverse?
Parkinson’s is driven by the loss of nerve cells (neurons) in the part of the brain controlling movement. Therefore, a “disease-modifying” treatment would be one able to address this loss by targeting the underlying biology driving Parkinson’s.
Cure Parkinson’s believes we can find these therapies by investigating each of these steps:
- Slowing progression – Parkinson’s is a progressive condition, which means gradually, over time, the symptoms get worse. Therefore, the first step in curing Parkinson’s is to identify agents that can slow the condition from advancing.
- Stopping or preventing progression – Once progression of the condition has been slowed, it will be important to provide a supportive and nurturing environment for surviving cells. Identifying therapies that can protect neurons from further degradation will be vital for this.
- Reversing progression – After progression is slowed or stopped, it will also be important to try and replace the neurons and their function that have been lost to Parkinson’s. Researchers have been investigating dopamine-cell replacement to achieve this.
Cure Parkinson’s is supporting research in all three of these potential treatment areas. Additionally, through our International Linked Clinical Trials (iLCT) programme, we have clinical and pre-clinical studies evaluating all aspects of Parkinson’s science in hopes of bringing new treatments to the clinic for the Parkinson’s community as soon as possible.
At first glance the task ahead of us seems insurmountable, but there is already a huge amount of research being conducted at clinical level across all three components of a cure for Parkinson’s. And through clinical trials supported by Cure Parkinson’s we are seeing the first signs of potentially disease-modifying therapies. It is an exciting time for Parkinson’s research.
Dr Simon Stott, Director Research, Cure Parkinson’s
