First tests successfully completed: Bayer is making progress in Parkinson’s gene therapy

First tests completed successfully
Bayer is making progress in Parkinson’s gene therapy

January 4, 2024, 11:23 a.m

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There is reason for new hope for Parkinson’s patients – the pharmaceutical company Bayer reports success in the first test phase of its new gene therapy to treat the disease. The second test phase is already in the starting blocks.

Bayer and its biotech subsidiary BlueRock Therapeutics are making progress in the development of a novel gene therapy to treat Parkinson’s. In a phase 1b clinical study, the drug achieved the primary goal of the investigation, the Leverkusen-based pharmaceutical and agricultural group announced.

The gene therapy was well tolerated by all eleven patients over an observation period of 18 months and no serious adverse events occurred. The detailed data is expected to be published in the second quarter. A phase 2 study is being prepared and is scheduled to start in the first half of the year as planned. The core of the therapy is the transplantation of cells into the test subjects’ brains in order to compensate for the damage to the nerve cells caused by the disease.

Millions of people affected worldwide

Parkinson’s is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, affecting more than ten million people worldwide. It is caused by damage to the nerve cells in the brain, which leads to a deficiency of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Medications used so far can alleviate the symptoms of the disease, but there is still no cure. Bayer secured gene therapy with its full takeover of BlueRock in 2019.