Summary: Syntara Ltd, an Australia-based company, is conducting a phase 2 clinical trial to test SNT-4728, a drug candidate originally developed for other conditions, as a potential neuroprotective treatment to prevent Parkinson’s disease progression in patients with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder. The trial, funded primarily by Parkinson’s UK, aims to target neuroinflammation in the disease’s prodromal stage.
Most people with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder eventually develop Parkinson’s disease, but an Australia-based clinical drug development company is testing whether a drug candidate originally developed for fatty liver disease and eye disease could prove a viable neuroprotective strategy preventing this distressing progression.
Frenchs Forest, Australia-based Syntara Ltd is recruiting 40 patients with idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder for a phase 2 clinical trial of drug candidate SNT-4728. The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is majority funded by Parkinson’s UK.
According to company documents, Syntara-discovered SNT-4728 is a potent inhibitor of the enzyme semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase and brain monoamine oxidase B.
“If we can successfully treat the neuroinflammation that is driving the disease at the prodromal stage, we could have the chance to ‘cure’ these conditions before people start losing those brain cells,” clinical trial lead-neurologist Simon Lewis tells The Lighthouse, the research news publication of Macquarie University.
Clinical trial participants with diagnosed REM sleep behavior disorder will be asked to have a specialized PET scan only available in Melbourne, Australia, with travel funded.
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