A German pharmaceutical company announced that an experimental stem cell therapy developed by its US subsidiary BlueRock showed signs of alleviating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in a preliminary study involving 12 patients, Reuters and Agerpres reported on Monday.

At a briefing in June, Bayer announced the success of a preliminary study, saying it was the first stem cell treatment for Parkinson’s disease. However, the company did not provide more details at the time, saving them for a medical conference.

In a statement released Monday, the company said that one year after treatment, the seven high-dose participants had an average of 2.16 hours a day of well-controlled symptoms. In addition, the period of worsening symptoms was shorter by 1.91 hours per day.

The five participants who received the lower dose had an average of 0.72 hours longer per day of well-controlled symptoms. In them, the period of worsening symptoms was 0.75 hours shorter per day.

Treatment was well tolerated with no major safety concerns.

“The positive result of the first phase clinical trial is a clear step forward,” said Christian Rommel, Head of Research and Drug Development at Bayer.

How Bayer’s experimental Parkinson’s therapy works

For BlueRock’s experimental therapy, researchers took pluripotent human embryonic stem cells and transformed them into dopamine-producing nerve cells. They were implanted in the brain to restore neural networks destroyed by Parkinson’s disease.

Medicines were also given to prevent the immune system from attacking the new cells. The findings were presented at the International Congress on Parkinson’s Disease and Other Movement Disorders in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The race to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease, which is caused by a lack of dopamine, a molecule that helps regulate many basic brain functions, has suffered numerous setbacks over the decades.

Several research projects around the world, including Bayer, have recently focused on transplanting modified cells to restore the function of the dopamine-producing part of the brain.

Parkinson’s disease research worldwide

Some of these projects are carried out by the University of Cambridge in the UK, Bundang CHA Hospital in South Korea, International Stem Cell Corp Cyto Therapeutics in Australia, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harvard University in the United States and Kyoto University Hospital in Japan.

Bayer said it is moving into Phase II of three human clinical trials.

Enrollment of patients, including a control group that will not receive treatment, will begin in the first half of 2024.

Parkinson’s disease, for which there is no cure and which affects more than 10 million people worldwide, causes progressive brain damage. Common symptoms include loss of muscle control, tremors, and muscle stiffness, and some patients may develop dementia.

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