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A pioneering clinical trial for people with a sleep disorder who are at higher risk of developing Parkinson’s has recruited its first UK participant from the Discovery Cohort study at the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre (OPDC)

UK first syntara trial participant Francis Wicks with Karolien Groenewald
Dr Karolien Groenewald with the first UK trial participant

Funded by the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech, the trial is part of a global effort with Australian drug discovery company, Syntara. With sites in Australia and the UK, the partnership is focused on looking at the earliest causes and signs of Parkinson’s to uncover whether a potential treatment can reduce inflammation in the brain to hopefully protect brain cells from dying over time and slow down or stop the condition from developing.

The clinical trial involves 40 people with iRBD (idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder), a diagnosed condition where people act out their dreams, sometimes multiple times a night, which is linked with an increased risk of developing Parkinson's disease. It will trial a potential treatment, known as SNT-4728.

Three quarters of the participants will receive the active medication and the remaining quarter will receive a placebo for 12 weeks. Brain scans will form a major part of the study to see what is happening deep within the brain, offering unprecedented insights into the early causes of Parkinson's and whether the potential treatment offers hope towards a way to delay or stop the onset of the condition.

Francis, who is living with iRBD, a diagnosed condition where people act out their dreams, sometimes multiple times a night, kicked off the start of the UK part of the trial. Alongside this, the study continues to recruit participants at the Australian research site. 

 

Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences website.