Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) that affects one in 100 people over age 60.

With an estimated seven to 10 million patients living with Parkinson’s disease worldwide, it is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder.

Prasinesumab preferentially binds to aggregated α-synuclein to reduce pathogenic spread and descrease synuclein pathology

Parkinson’s disease is characterized by the neuronal accumulation of aggregated α-synuclein in the CNS and peripheral nervous system that results in a wide spectrum of worsening progressive motor and non-motor symptoms.

Mutations and changes in the levels of α-synuclein have been associated with multiple neurodegenerative illnesses, including Parkinson’s disease. The alpha-synuclein protein is a prominent component of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites (abnormal protein clusters on the inside of neurons), the pathological hallmarks of several neurological disorders classified as synucleinopathies.

While diagnosis relies on motor symptoms classically associated with Parkinson’s disease, non-motor symptoms may present many years earlier.

Current treatments for Parkinson’s disease are symptomatic and only address a subset of symptoms such as motor impairment, dementia or psychosis. Symptomatic therapies do not target the underlying cause of the disease and lose effectiveness, often leading to debilitating side effects as the disease progresses. There are currently no treatments available that target the underlying cause of the disease and can slow or stop the progression.

Prasinezumab is a potential first-in-class antibody for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease that is designed to target key epitopes within the C-terminus of alpha-synuclein and is the focus of a worldwide collaboration with Roche. Prasinezumab is the first anti-α-synuclein antibody to slow progression on measures of Parkinson’s disease in a Phase 2 clinical trial. These results support the potential of prasinezumab to slow underlying disease pathophysiology and clinical decline in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Prasinezumab is being investigated in ongoing open-label extensions of the Phase 2 PASADENA and the Phase 2b PADOVA clinical trials. Both studies are being conducted by our partners at Roche.