Two leading neurodegenerative research charities in the United Kingdom, The Cure Parkinson’s Trust and Alzheimer’s Research UK, have launched a partnership to develop innovative new treatments for people living with Parkinson’s and dementia.
The collaboration will focus on promising new drugs that show potential benefits across both conditions – particularly when it comes to slowing or stopping memory and thinking problems getting worse – building on the growing overlap in potential drug targets between Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, which both charities have been investigating in recent years.
Dr Sheona Scales, Director of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK said:
“Repurposing existing drugs to treat the diseases that cause dementia has huge potential and could be a faster way to find treatments that people are desperately waiting for. But identifying which drugs we should progress into trials is a mammoth task. By working together with Cure Parkinson’s, we’re working faster and smarter to pinpoint these drugs and accelerate the development of the next treatments that will help not only people with dementia, but also Parkinson’s.”
This new partnership is part of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Clinical Accelerator programme, which aims to reduce the time it takes for promising treatments to reach those affected by dementia. It will also be an extension to Cure Parkinson’s International Linked Clinical Trials (iLCT) programme, led in partnership with the Van Andel Institute in the USA.
In June, the iLCT programme hosted a joint session where drugs identified as having potential to be repurposed for treating Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s were reviewed by a panel of international experts.
Helen Matthew’s CEO of Cure Parkinson’s said:
“We are delighted to announce Cure Parkinson’s partnership with Alzheimer’s Research UK around our International Linked Clinical Trials Initiative. We are confident it will accelerate finding treatments with the potential to slow, stop or reverse Parkinson’s as it means we can investigate drugs of mutual interest, targeting aspects of biology of both conditions. This partnership will also capitalise on shared research findings, expertise and resources to speed up drug development for both conditions.”
As part of this new partnership, both charities will:
- Review drug candidates with potential for both Parkinson’s and dementia
- Invite international dementia and Parkinson’s experts to jointly evaluate candidates
- Involve people affected by the conditions in the decision-making process
- Work together to secure the funding and partnerships needed to move promising drugs into clinical trials
Currently, treatments for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s aren’t able to stop the conditions from progressing and getting worse.
Alzheimer’s is the most common neurodegenerative condition, with an estimated 7 million people living with Alzheimer’s across Europe alone. Parkinson’s is the fastest-growing neurological condition in the world, with over 1.2 million people living with Parkinson’s in Europe, and an estimated 12 million people living with the condition worldwide.
It is predicted that Parkinson’s cases will double to 25 million by the year 2050.
Common symptoms of Parkinson’s include tremors, stiffness and slowness of movement, whereas common early signs of Alzheimer’s include memory loss, difficulty with decision making, and increased anxiety and agitation.
Find out more about Parkinson’s on our website.
