AstronauTx has received funding from The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF), while Parkinson’s UK is funding an additional complementary research effort in collaboration with University College London (UCL). 

The MJFF-funded project, titled ‘Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Modulation as a Disease-Modifying Treatment for Prodromal Synucleinopathies’, will explore whether enhancing restorative sleep mechanisms using novel compounds developed by AstronauTx can reduce the accumulation of pathological proteins linked to Parkinson’s disease.  

In particular, REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder (RBD) is a recognised early indicator of Parkinson’s disease. 

AstronauTx aims to generate data supporting the development of one of its compounds as a potential disease-modifying treatment for this prodromal stage of Parkinson’s disease, where there may be a significant opportunity to influence disease progression.  

The MJFF grant was awarded through the Foundation’s Parkinson’s Disease Therapeutics Pipeline Program, which supports preclinical and translational research aimed at evaluating promising therapeutic approaches and advancing them toward clinical development. 

“Restorative sleep mechanisms are an emerging area of interest for therapeutic development in Parkinson’s disease, with the potential to offer new opportunities to intervene earlier in the disease process,” said Shalini Padmanabhan, Senior Vice President and Head of Translational Research at The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. “The studies supported through this award will generate important preclinical evidence to evaluate this therapeutic approach and help determine its potential to advance toward clinical development.” 

Slow-wave sleep research 

In parallel, Parkinson’s UK is funding a complementary project with UCL, led by Ian Harrison and supported by AstronauTx, to investigate whether increasing slow-wave sleep can enhance the brain’s natural waste-clearance pathways.  

The Parkinson’s UK-funded study, titled ‘Measuring the Effects of Increasing Slow-Wave Sleep Using a Novel Mechanism on Glymphatic Transport of Alpha-Synuclein in a Parkinson’s Disease Mouse Model’, will evaluate whether a novel sleep-enhancing compound that increases slow-wave activity and enhances glymphatic flow results in the removal of the neurotoxic protein alpha-synuclein from the brain. 

Jane Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer of AstronauTx, commented: “We are grateful for the support from The Michael J Fox Foundation and Parkinson’s UK as we investigate the relationship between restorative sleep mechanisms and Parkinson’s disease and evaluate the therapeutic potential of these approaches. By targeting the mechanisms that regulate restorative sleep, we aim to unlock a completely new approach to treating Parkinson’s disease and other neurological diseases at their earliest stages, and we believe this grant-funded work has the potential to directly support the development of new disease-modifying approaches for patients.”