First clinical trial of CDNF in Parkinson's announced

November 1, 2016

Herantis Pharma, a Finnish pharmaceutical company, has announced the first clinical trial of a new treatment for Parkinson's.

It is great to see the innovation from the GDNF study already benefiting other clinical trials.

Dr Beckie Port, Senior Research Communications Officer

The study, due to start next year, will use a state of the art delivery system to get a compound called cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor (or CDNF for short) delivered directly into the brain.

The study is currently being discussed with regulatory bodies in Finland and Sweden and aims to start recruiting people with Parkinson's in 2017.

What is CDNF?

CDNF is one of a family of 'growth factors' that the brain produces naturally to help cells to grow and survive.

Another important member of this family is GDNF (or glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor) which is already being tested in a groundbreaking clinical trialsupported by Parkinson's UK.

Research suggests that CDNF can protect dopamine-producing cells and encourage them to grow again.

Getting CDNF to where it's needed in the brain requires an innovative delivery system. But one has already been developed and used successfully in our GDNF trial.

The company involved in helping to develop this drug delivery system for the GDNF trial is called Renishaw and they are now partnering with Herantis to use similar technology in the CDNF trial.

Urgent need for better treatments

Dr Beckie Port, Senior Research Communications Officer at Parkinson's UK, comments:

"Currently there is no treatment that can slow or stop the progression of Parkinson's. But there is a real hope that research will deliver new and better treatments that can do this. And it is great to see the innovation from the GDNF study already benefiting other clinical trials.

"Whilst the first clinical trial in people is a huge milestone for any new treatment, it's still early days for CDNF.

"This phase of the clinical trial will involve a small number of participants to learn about the safety of this new compound and it is some years away from being made available to people with the condition."

https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/news/1-november-2016/first-clinical-trial-cdnf-parkinsons-announced