Thanks jeffreyn - it is fascinating and potentially important.

As an aside, one of my colleagues has spent a long time solving the structures of venom components and then testing them for possible clinical use - it is an important research area.

As well as discussing exenatide, the recent SoPD post also discusses research on another GLP-1 receptor agonist called NLY01. A recent AlzForum article also provides a good overview/discussion of this NLY01 research (IMHO).

"NLY01 is on a fast track to human testing … with the goal of a Phase 2 in Parkinson’s disease in 2019."

Does Taming Killer Astrocytes Spare Neurons in Parkinson’s Disease? | ALZFORUM

A Phase 2 trial of another GLP-1 receptor agonist (liraglutide) is currently recruiting PwPs (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles).

Safety and Efficacy of Liraglutide in Parkinson's Disease:
Safety and Efficacy of Liraglutide in Parkinson's Disease - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

Re-reading this thread recently, I noticed a question from johnt (08-09-2017), which went unanswered:

"What is the relationship between alpha-synuclein and Exenatide? Given the supposed centrality of alpha-synuclein in the pathogenesis of PD, you would expect any treatment which slowed the progression of PD to involve alpha-synuclein in some way."

John probably has his answer now (from other sources), but for anyone else who may be pondering this same question, the following PNT article (about NLY01) sheds some light:

Compound Similar to Diabetic Medications Slows Parkinson's Progression in Mouse Study

And for anyone wanting to delve deeper, I recommend the following AlzForum article (mentioned in an earlier post):

Does Taming Killer Astrocytes Spare Neurons in Parkinson’s Disease? | ALZFORUM

Simon Stott has recently done SoPD blog posts on both Exenatide and NLY01.

An exercise in expectations: Exenatide III | The Science of Parkinson's

The Neuraly trial | The Science of Parkinson's

A Clinical Study of NLY01 in Patient's With Early Parkinson's Disease:
A Clinical Study of NLY1 in Patient's With Early Parkinson's Disease - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

(hat tip to Horace99 at HU for the link)