Breakthrough Discovery for Parkinson's Disease Treatment

CHICAGO - Oct. 17, 2016 - PRLog -- Neurodon LLC has recently published a breakthrough study that paves the way for a new, effective way to treat Parkinson's disease. The novel strategy focuses on a process called endoplasmic reticulum stress, or ER stress. Parkinson's disease is caused by the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells in certain areas of the brain. A major cause of this cell loss is ER stress, and Neurodon scientists have found a way to halt this ER stress. This article establishes the key link between ER stress and Parkinson's disease that is the primary step in developing a new medicine.

This report marks the first time a small molecule targeting this pathway has been effective in a model for Parkinson's disease, specifically the 6-OHDA model, which is the industry standard preclinical model to vet new Parkinson's medications. The compound's efficacy in this model is comparable to the gold standard treatment Levodopa, which is metabolized by the body to produce dopamine. "These results far exceeded our expectations for efficacy in every test in the model," said Neurodon Chief Scientific Founder, Dr. Russell Dahl. "Ever since we recognized that this pathway can rescue many cell types in culture, we've been wanting to establish a proof-of-concept study in a Parkinson's disease model. This represent a powerful avenue to help patients by developing drugs for all neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, ALS – basically any disease involving cell loss – and bodes well for further clinical development and, most importantly, hope for patients."

In contrast to L-dopa treatment, this research promises a well-tolerated, safe way to treat the dopamine loss in Parkinson's by actually preserving dopamine-producing cells.

The study will be presented in an upcoming issue of Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry. An early preprint version can be seen online at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0968089616309221