Here's a link to the December 2016 article on PRX002's Phase 1 clinical trial results. My key takeways:

- PRX002 can clear alpha-synuclein from serum (blood)

- The trial didn't measure whether it did this in the CNS (i.e.: cross blood-brain barrier)

- In mice given a model of PD, they did measure it, and indeed PRX002 did clear alpha-synuclein from the CNS, leading to improvement of PD symptoms

- Phase II trial is slated for 2017 --- exciting!

- Alpha-synuclein exists in many forms, some healthy, some unhealthy. PRX002 clears them all, but has a preference for aggregates over single molecules. Unclear as to whether the clearing of healthy alpha-synuclein is a problem, though it did not lead to symptoms in the healthy patients in the phase I trial. Still, this is cause for concern.

- PRX002 works by binding to alpha-synuclein, apparently in a way that the result can be cleared by the body's own house-cleaning systems (autophagy). This is good, since the alpha-synuclein found in PD cannot be so cleared, hence it builds up. Translating it from unclearable to clearable is a big deal.

- It will be exceptionally interesting to see whether this can be proven to be as good in people with PD as it was in mice given fake-PD. With this in mind, as well as other drugs in the pipeline, my focus for my own PD remains squarely with doing whatever I can to slow the progression. For me, this includes: exercise, diet, intermittent fasting, rasagiline (yes, the last one is controversial).

-- Dan

Darn - I have less than 10 posts, so it won't let me post the link. Would someone please reply to this post, after re-assembling the following link. -- Dan

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/ 10.1002/ mds.26878/ full