The largest Parkinson’s disease clinical trial ever conducted has been launched in the UK, aiming to speed up the discovery of treatments that could slow or stop the progression of the condition. The £26 million study, known as EJS ACT-PD, will recruit up to 1,600 people with Parkinson’s across more than 40 hospitals nationwide.
The trial uses an innovative multi-arm, multi-stage design, allowing several potential treatments to be tested at the same time. This approach enables ineffective treatments to be stopped early while promising ones continue, potentially reducing the time needed to identify effective therapies by several years.
The study is led by researchers at University College London and Newcastle University, with support from the NIHR, the Medical Research Council, and Parkinson’s charities. Initial treatments being tested include repurposed drugs already used for conditions such as high blood pressure and prostate enlargement.
Researchers hope the trial will identify treatments that go beyond symptom management and help slow the underlying progression of Parkinson’s disease.
Learn more about the trial: https://bit.ly/3LrKPQV