Parkinson's Vax Enters Clinical Trials

Researchers in Vienna are starting a Phase I trial on the first ever vaccine with a potential to treat the neurodegenerative disease.

Written byBob Grant

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Alpha-synuclein accretions (brown spots) accumulate in the brains of Parkinson's patients WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, JENSFLORIAN

A new vaccine that has the potential to treat Parkinson's disease is entering a Phase I clinical trial in Vienna. The first-of-its-kind vaccine, PD01A, aims to ramp up an immune response to the alpha-Synuclein (alpha-syn) protein, which is involved in the onset and progression of Parkinson's. Austrian biotech AFFiRiS is testing the vaccine with support from the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

"Worldwide, for the first time immunotherapy is applied for the treatment of Parkinson's," AFFiRiS CEO Walter Schmidt said in a statement. "PD01A is the first medication worldwide aiming for clinical efficacy by modulating the metabolic pathway of alpha-syn."

Hat tip to Medical News Today.

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
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From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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