Principal Investigator(s): Dr Tony Reid, Dr Bryan Oronsky and Dr Richard Gordon

Project Title: Validation of RRx-001 as a novel disease-modifying therapeutic for Parkinson’s disease

Study Rationale:
Our project will test the effectiveness of a new treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD), called RRx-001. We believe this drug could be beneficial in PD by blocking inflammasome activation and other mechanisms which drives persistent inflammation that is linked to PD progression.

Hypothesis:
We propose that RRx-001 could be a safe and effective treatment for Parkinson’s based on our results in animal models and our ongoing human clinical trials with this drug in other conditions.

Study Design:
This project will test the effectiveness of RRx-001 in multiple animal models of Parkinson’s disease and also in cell culture studies. We will determine if RRx-001 can prevent or rescue key aspects of Parkinson’s pathology in disease models, which would indicate that this drug could have potential to work in human studies.

Impact on Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson’s disease:
There are currently no treatments for PD. Our drug has been shown to be safe and well-tolerated in human clinical trials date with no major adverse events reported. Therefore, if our testing of RRx-001 in PD models is successful in this project, it can directly enter clinical trials for PD as a new treatment.

Next Steps for Development:
If results of our testing in animal models are positive, we will seek additional funding to progress this drug into human clinical trials.