Fast-Tracking Parkinson’s Treatments: The Power of the Virtual Biotech

This International Day of Charity (Friday 5th September 2025), we celebrate the role that charity plays in accelerating life science research, innovation and finding treatments and cures for patients. 

One shining example? 

The Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech - a bold, collaborative, and results-driven programme reshaping how we think about drug discovery and development for Parkinson’s disease.  

How It’s Funded and Why That Matters  

Launched in 2017 by Parkinson’s UK and now running in partnership with the 

Parkinson’s Foundation, the Virtual Biotech programme identifies projects with the greatest potential to transform life for people with Parkinson’s and then works with partners to rapidly develop and test them. It depends solely on funding raised through the charities with a mission to deliver life-changing new treatments in years, not decades.  

Parkinson’s UK has already committed over £30 million to cutting-edge projects, from pre-clinical research through to world-first Phase 3 clinical trials. In practical terms, every donation counts, for example, £15 for glass slides in lab testing, can make a direct impact.  

Dr Lynsey Bilsland, Managing Director of the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech, shared with Tom Midmore, MD of Wentworth Life Sciences: “The funding and support provided through the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech can play a crucial role in de-risking promising new treatments and catalysing their development. We work in partnership with our global Parkinson’s community and with the Parkinson’s Foundation to bring life-changing treatments closer to the people that need them the most.” 

Achievements to Date  

The Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech embraces a global, collaborative approach - uniting over 60 partners including research institutions, universities, companies, and charities, spanning continents from France to Canada.  

Some standout success stories include:  

NRG Therapeutics: One of the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech’s earliest investments in 2019, the company Targets mitochondrial function (“cellular batteries”) as a way to preserve neuron health. NRG secured extra Series A funding in 2022 to advance toward clinical trials.  

Neumora Therapeutics: Received £2.1 million in April 2024 to support lab work on a drug targeting brain inflammation, potentially preventing neuronal damage in Parkinson’s (a two-year project moving toward clinical trials).  

Herantis Pharma’s HER-096: In July 2024, Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech UK and the Michael J. Fox Foundation co-funded (£1.55 million) the first human trial of this less-invasive, injectable molecule designed to restore dopamine-producing cells - a critical breakthrough in treatment delivery.  

Current Research in the Pipeline  

The Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech continues to back a robust portfolio of projects using creative and targeted strategies:  

• EndLyz: Aims to enhance lysosomal function to help clear harmful proteins within neurons - potentially slowing disease progression.  

• NRG Therapeutics (see above): preclinical development of a drug targeting mitochondrial damage.  

• NRG Therapeutics & Project Lucy: Both targets mitochondrial function (“cellular batteries”) as a way to preserve neuron health. NRG secured extra funding in 2022 to advance toward clinical trials.  

• Keapstone: The first Virtual Biotech project (2017) focuses on oxidative stress and continues to explore promising molecules for possible trials.  

• Neumora Therapeutics: Development of a new drug targeting brain inflammation, potentially preventing neuronal damage in Parkinson’s (a two-year project moving toward clinical trials).  

• AcureX: funded to move towards completion of the preclinical development of a neuroprotective drug targeting 15-lipoxygenase. 

Clinical studies underway:  

• Top Hat: Phase 2 trial of ondansetron to treat hallucinations in Parkinson’s or Lewy body dementia (306 participants).  

• CAN-PDP (CBD): Pilot dosage phase complete; now recruiting 120 patients for a 12-week, double-blind trial on psychosis associated with Parkinson’s.  

• Syntara (PXS-4728): Investigating inflammation reduction in individuals with iRBD (a high-risk Parkinson’s precursor), aiming to slow symptom onset. Recruitment began November 2023.  

• ASPro-PD (Ambroxol): A phase 3 trial testing if this cough medicine derivative can slow Parkinson’s progression by increasing GCase protein levels.  

• Mission (MTX325): Early-stage trials assessing safety in healthy individuals; the compound targets removal of faulty mitochondria.  

• Herantis HER-096 (see above): Currently in human safety trials in Finland.  

Why It Matters to the Life Sciences Community  

One of the most compelling aspects of the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech is its ability to accelerate timelines. By funding projects at an early stage, it can help accelerate and compress a drug development process that traditionally takes decades into just a few years. For a community where speed directly impacts patient outcomes, this can make a huge difference.  

Equally important is its patient-driven ethos. The programme is not shaped solely by scientific opportunity, but by the lived experiences and most pressing needs of people with Parkinson’s. This ensures that the research being fast-tracked has direct relevance to those it aims to help.  

Finally, the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech is expanding therapeutic diversity. With projects spanning inflammation, mitochondrial biology, growth factor treatments, and hallucination management, to name just a few for example, the programme is building a broad pipeline that targets both disease-modifying therapies and much-needed symptomatic relief in Parkinson’s.  

How You Can Support the Cause  

There are several ways the life sciences community can contribute to the ongoing success of the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech. Direct donations remain a vital lifeline - small contributions, such as £15 for essential lab materials, can directly support early discoveries and keep promising projects moving forward.  

For researchers, there are opportunities to partner with the programme. If your work touches on areas like neuroinflammation, mitochondrial health, or symptom management, collaboration could open up new avenues for progress.  

Beyond funding and partnerships, raising awareness is also crucial. By sharing the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech programme and its successes, you can inspire similar collaborations across other disease areas - showing how science, charity, and innovation can come together to deliver hope faster.  

Moving Faster and Smarter  

On International Charity Day, Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech exemplifies how philanthropy and scientific innovation can partner to transform patient outcomes - in years, not decade

s. It’s a model that calls us all - in life sciences, research and academia - to move faster, smarter, and together to change lives.