Overview

• Charities Cure Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Research UK have launched a collaboration to repurpose approved drugs for both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
• The project was spurred by the NHS watchdog’s decision to reject amyloid-targeting therapies lecanemab and donanemab for their high cost and limited benefit.
• It will use Cure Parkinson’s International Linked Clinical Trials process to select promising candidates and move them into trials more quickly.
• Semaglutide, the active ingredient in diabetes and weight-loss drugs, is now in clinical trials for both diseases, with results expected later this year.
• Researchers aim to exploit shared disease pathways such as inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction and protein misfolding to save up to a decade in treatment development.