Despite having an incurable condition, many people with Parkinson’s refuse to be beaten, whether it’s taking up incredible physical feats, raising thousands in cash for research, or making huge efforts to raise awareness. But after being diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s at just 29 years of age in 2018, Guillaume Brachet, from near Tours in France, is going one step further: he is trying to develop a new drug to treat people with Parkinson’s.
The idea came to Guillaume, who has a phD in biology and has worked as a medical biologist, a pharmacist and as an assistant lecturer, after he read a scientific paper by Leuven university.
“I was looking for some hope,” says Guillaume, who says he has read more than 700 scientific articles about Parkinson’s. “I was reading the scientific literature about Parkinson’s disease to gain insight into where the science was, [to find out] if there was some hope for some [new] treatment in the time frame of my life, if it was something that I wouldn’t be able to expect for the upcoming years or decades.”
Guillaume developed a theory that a combination of various existing medications might have the potential to create a disease-modifying formula for people with Parkinson’s. He then spent six months approaching pharmaceutical companies with a 60-page rationale for his theory. But after being told more research was required, Guillaume realised he needed to raise money to fund the laboratory-based research required to move the project forward.
This was the motivation behind his 2022 ‘Parkinson sur Loire’ challenge, which saw Guillaume kayak 150km along the Loire. “‘Parkinson sur Loire’ was against the flow, from the ocean, up the river, because it was a metaphor of sports against Parkinson’s,” says Guillaume.
After he raised 45,000 euros during the gruelling challenge, two Marseilles-based research organisations Neuron Experts and Syncrosome matched it with another 45,000 euros of funding.
After the laboratory-based research yielded promising results in April 2023, Guillaume launched his own drug development company CXS Therapeutics five months later. A subsidiary company Sappiens is about to be launched, which will focus on the development of the potential new Parkinson’s drug. It was patented earlier this year as CXS003, and Guillaume hopes that it may be able to slow the progression of the condition.
As CEO of both companies, Guillaume works nearly 70 hours a week as he works towards phase 2 trials of CXS003 taking place next year. He hopes that if it is proved to be safe and effective, a potential new Parkinson’s treatment could be available in 2029.
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