Over 200 years ago, Dr. James Parkinson, a neurologist, geologist, and activist, published “An Essay on the Shaking Palsy” in 1817 which described the disease. Almost 60 years later, Jean Martin Charcot, a French neurologist, recognized the importance of Parkinson’s work and named the disease after him. To mark Dr. Parkinson’s birthday, the first official World Parkinson’s Day took place in 1997 on April 11th, and April is deemed as the Parkinson’s awareness month.
J.W.S. Van der Wereld, a Dutch horticulturist who had Parkinson’s disease and was living with Parkinson’s – developed a new red and white variant of the tulip which is used as the official symbol.
What is Parkison’s?
According to recent statistics from the Parkinson’s Foundation, over 10 million people are affected. Parkinson’s is a progressive disease of the nervous system marked by tremors, muscular rigidity, and slow, imprecise movement mostly affecting middle-aged and elderly people. It is caused by a loss of nerve cells in the substantia nigra, a critical region located in the midbrain.
How can you help?
The Parkinson’s Foundation has launched a national study, PD GENEration, to genetically test and study the disease. If you know anyone with Parkinson’s disease, you can help further understanding by enrolling at no cost. Learn more here : https://www.parkinson.org/PDGENEration
What is Gain Therapeutics doing for Parkinson’s awareness month?
We have made a lot of progress but the exact cause of Parkinson’s is still not known and there is no cure and only treatments to manage symptoms. Mutations in GBA gene have been tied with developing Parkinson’s disease. We are working with the Micheal J Fox Foundation to study this further.
You can read more details here:
https://www.michaeljfox.org/grant/targeting-gcase-novel-pharmacological-chaperones
In November 2021, Gain Therapeutics published data at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, The findings demonstrate that the Company’s lead compound GT-02287, which specifically binds to lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GCase), reduces alpha-synuclein pathology and neuroinflammation in a dose-dependent manner, as well as improves behavioral deficits in an animal model of Parkinson’s Disease.
You can read more in the press release here:
