The first participant on the Cure Parkinson’s and Van Andel Institute co-funded trial of dapansutrile, an anti-inflammatory drug, has now received either the treatment or placebo, marking the beginning of the trial.

Dapansutrile for Parkinson’s (DAPA-PD) is a clinical trial being led by Dr Caroline Williams-Gray at the University of Cambridge's Department of Clinical Neurosciences. Dapansutrile is a novel anti-inflammatory drug being developed by Olatec Therapeutics. There is growing evidence to suggest that long-term inflammation in the brain contributes to the loss of nerve cells (neurons) in Parkinson’s. Additionally, people with high levels of inflammation appear to progress faster than those without.

Therefore, if dapansutrile can lower brain inflammation, it may be able to protect neurons and slow Parkinson’s progression. 

Why target the immune system?

DAPA-PD will involve 36 people with Parkinson’s, the first of whom has now started the treatment period. For the first 6 months, participants will be randomly assigned to take either dapansutrile or a placebo (dummy drug). This will be followed by a 6-month open-label period, meaning that everyone on the trial will have the chance to take dapansutrile. The goal is to evaluate both the safety and tolerability of dapansutrile and assess whether it lowers brain inflammation. We are hopeful that the results of this trial will help determine whether dapansutrile should progress into further clinical trials for Parkinson’s.

Why is this trial important?

Although there is now quite a bit of evidence to support the role of inflammation in Parkinson’s, this is still a relatively new area of research. Therefore, this trial marks an important step forward and will help researchers better understand the relationship between inflammation and Parkinson’s, as well as how we may begin to treat this.

One of the previous trials, called AZA-PD, was also led by Dr Williams-Gray and provided the foundation for DAPA-PD. This Cure Parkinson’s funded trial tested the immunosuppressant medication azathioprine, and the results were published earlier this year.
Results from the phase 2 AZA-PD trial are now published - Cure Parkinson's

The Department of Clinical Neurosciences was delighted to re-share the content from this article from Cure Parkinson's.
Read the original by author Katelyn Beissert, Junior Research Communications Manager at Cure Parkinson's here: 
The phase 2 clinical trial of dapansutrile is now underway - Cure Parkinson's