# # # # At the end of each month, the SoPD writes a post which provides an overview of some of the major or interesting pieces of Parkinson’s-related research that were made available during May 2026. The post is divided into 10 parts based on the type of research: Top 5 pieces of Parkinson’s news Articles of general interest Basic biology Preclinical treatment development Clinical research New clinical trials Clinical trial news Conferences/lectures Other news Review articles/videos # # # #

---

In May 2026, there were 1,205 research articles added to the Pubmed website with the tag word Parkinson s attached (compared to 6,382 for all of 2026). In addition, there was a wave to news reports regarding various other bits of Parkinson s research activity (clinical trials, etc).

The top 5 pieces of Parkinson’s news

1. Parkinson’s Clinical Trial pipeline report:

The latest edition of the Parkinson’s drug therapies in the clinical trial pipeline report has been published and we did something special with it: We have conducted a 10 year longitudinal analysis of Parkinson’s trials (n=444), highlighting some interesting trends; Symptomatic trials registered each year has been trending down, while DMT trials have been shifting up; Only 9 Phase 3 DMTs in the last 10 years! (Click here to read more about this).

 

2. The LUMA study results:

Biogen and Denali Therapeutics announced their Phase 2b LUMA study of BIIB122 in early-stage Parkinson’s disease did not meet its primary or secondary endpoints; They are discontinuing development of BIIB122 in idiopath. PD (Denali is continuing BEACON study). Results “show that BIIB122 did not slow the progression of Parkinson’s vs placebo, as measured by the primary endpoint of Time to Confirmed Worsening in the modified MDS-UPDRS Part II & III combined score. Secondary endpoints also did not show a benefit with BIIB122”. “>90% kinase inhibition of peripheral LRRK2 (phosphoserine 935) &, in a CSF sub-study, up to approximately 30% reduction observed in a biomarker of LRRK2 activity (phosphorylated Rab10). Expected levels of BIIB122 in the blood & CSF were sustained across the study” (Click here to read more about this, click here for a news summary, and click here to read an SoPD post on this announcement).

 

3. The conversion of GBA1 variant carriers:

In a large longitudinal cohort study of 1,618 people with with Gaucher disease type 1 approximately 1/9 were diagnosed with Parkinson’s & more than 1/5 patients were diagnosed with PD/DLB or experienced movement disorder symptoms by 80 years of age; “Finding that most patients remain free of Parkinson’s despite very low residual enzyme activity informs the hypothesis that acid ß-glucosidase levels directly predict risk of PD”; “Understanding these modifiers could ultimately pave the way for targeted neuroprotective strategies” (Click here to read more about this).

 

4. The STEM-PD programme gets handed on:

The Novo Nordisk STEM-PD cell transplantation programme for Parkinson’s finds a new home at AI company Cellular Intelligence; Novo becomes equity investor in Cellular Intelligence & is eligible to receive future milestones and royalties (Click here to read more about this and click here for a news summary).

 

5. The imaging of synuclein in the brain:

Researchers (in collaboration with MODAG) present the development of the α-Syn PET tracer [11C]MODAG-005, providing in vitro & in vivo data (including first-in-human testing in patients with clinically established Multiple Systems Atrophy & Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).

 

6. The PADOVA trial results were published:

The results of the PADOVA trial have been published by Roche – this was a phase 2b, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study assessing the efficacy & safety of intravenous prasinezumab in 586 individuals with early-stage Parkinson’s; “Although PADOVA did not meet the primary endpoint, prespecified exploratory evidence suggests clinical activity of prasinezumab in early-stage Parkinson’s disease, supporting continued investigation in the ongoing phase 3 PARAISO trial (NCT07174310)” (Click here to read more about this and click here for a commentary).

Articles of general interest

• New technology feature explores induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells – how history was made & the current landscape (Click here to read more about this).
• The 2026 AD drug development pipeline includes 158 unique therapies in 192 trials, marking continued growth in disease-modifying agents, with 35% being repurposed drugs (Click here to read more about this).
• In the latest “Meet The Researcher interview”, Cure Parkinson’s speaks with Professor Huw Morris discusses the importance of combining clinical and genetic data when exploring Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).

 

Basic biology news

• New data suggests that “alterations in the regulation of m6A RNA methylation may be associated with neurodegeneration & ageing, & it may play a significant role at the synapse”; Implications for Parkinson’s? (Click here to read more about this).
• New work establishes heterogeneous ribosomal protein expression as a feature of brain cell types which may enable cell type-specific translation regulation via specialized ribosomes; Also identifies Rps24c/S24-PKE as a potential marker for neuroinflammation (Click here to read more about this).
• New research reports that “PRKN controls both direct & indirect (GBA1-dependent) transcriptional regulation of SNCA” in cellular, mice models & Parkinson’s-affected brains (Click here to read more about this).
• Unbiased behavioral screening & machine learning of 24 of familial forms of Parkinson’s & related monogenic forms of Parkinsonism in Drosophila identifies clusters in (1) mitochondrial function; (2) retromer/vesicle trafficking & proteostasis/autophagy (Click here to read more about this).
• New paper presents a multi-omic view of microbial communities, showing that small open reading frames (smORFs) are integral to human gut microbiology, establishing that smORF-encoded proteins can be robustly identified within complex microbial ecosystem (Click here to read more about this).

• Researchers present BioID proximity proteomes of the Parkinson’s-associated protein LRRK2 that reveal new interactors, which they further characterize using a novel evolutionary & structural bioinformatics pipeline (Click here to read more about this).
• New paper combines data modeling & super-resolution imaging to present single-molecule detection methods for studying alpha-synuclein aggregation in postmortem Parkinson’s brain samples (Click here to read more about this and click here to read a press summary).
• Researchers present the Generalizable Protein-based Neurodegenerative disease artificial intelligence (GPND-AI) classifier using the NUcleic acid-Linked Immuno-Sandwich Assay (NULISA) central nervous system (CNS) panel (GPND-AI NULISA – Click here to read more about this).
• Researchers report that the KL-VS genetic variant of KLOTHO, linked to elevated circulating klotho levels, associated with better executive cognition in individuals with Parkinson’s across two independent cohorts; Transgenic elevation of klotho in mouse PD model reduced α-syn (Click here to read more about this).
• New research reports that secreted GPNMB enhances uptake of fibrillar alpha-synuclein in a non-cell-autonomous process; anti-GPNMB mAb block effect; GPNMB genotypes at rs199347 associated sig. with extent of Lewy pathology (Click here to read more about this and click here to read a press summary).

 

Preclinical treatment development

• Researchers present data supporting ADP-Ribosylation Factor GTPase-Activating Protein 1 (ArfGAP1) as a novel modifier of LRRK2 & as a putative therapeutic target for modulating LRRK2-linked Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).
• Researchers report branched-chain amino acids ameliorate CD4+ T-cell-associated gut immune inflammation in (mouse models of) Parkinson’s; BCAA supplementation alleviated constipation symptoms &increased Th1 & Th17 cell infiltration (Click here to read more about this).
• New research reports levodopa-induced dyskinesia leads to an enhancement of GluN2B expression & synaptic strength in indirect pathway spiny projection neurons; Knocking down Grin2b mRNA prevents this & reduces levodopa induced dyskinesias; Novel gene therapy strategy? (Click here to read more about this).
• The unexpected mechanisms of repurposed drugs in the pathogenic pathways of neurodegenerative diseases – researchers apply a pipeline integrating computational chemistry, calcium channel affinity prediction, & in vitro validation in cellular models. They report Chlorpromazine showed neuroprotection & potent Caᵥ1.2 & P2X7 antagonism & Trimipramine exhibited strong antioxidant effects via radical scavenging & Nrf2 (Click here to read more about this).
• Remember GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonists? Yeah me, too. And then there were the triple agonists? Mmm, I remember them as well. Well, now we have quintuple agonists (GLP-1R–GIPR–PPARα/γ/δ – Click here to read more about this).

Clinical research

• Researchers highlights both the potential & current limitations of Amyloid β & tau proteins as biomarkers for cognitive decline in Parkinson’s; The most consistent evidence concerns reduced Aβ42 levels being correlated with cognitive decline (Click here to read more about this).
• Researchers report impaired sleep microarchitecture is associated with locus coeruleus degeneration in Parkinson’s; Disrupted sleep spindles is (but reduced slow wave sleep is not) associated to locus coeruleus degeneration (Click here to read more about this).
• New research proposes tubulin polymerization promoting protein (TPPP/p25) as a cerebrospinal fluid-based biomarker for the specific diagnosis of multiple system atrophy (MSA); TPPP/p25 amyloid seeds in CSF robustly differentiates MSA from Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).
• In a case-control study involving 2.1M Danish citizens, “exposures to ambient PM2.5 or NO2 were each associated with increased risks of dementia with Lewy bodies & Parkinson’s disease–related dementia, with a greater magnitude of association for risk of DLB” (Click here to read more about this).

• A nationwide nested case–control study finds no robust evidence of an association between furosemide use & Parkinson’s risk; “However, there was suggestive evidence of reduced risk for participants in the highest exposure category” (Click here to read more about this).
• Using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, researchers report that “Asthma & allergic rhinitis were associated with increased Parkinson’s incidence, particularly with greater severity and multimorbidity, supporting shared inflammatory mechanisms” (Click here to read more about this).
• New data suggests “magnetoencephalography can reveal dissociable, complementary neural processes which contribute to Parkinson’s”; N=78 PD, 121 controls; Oscillatory slowing can be separated into components that can robustly identify individual cases of PD (Click here to read more about this).
• SPARROW: Subtyping Parkinson’s with Agentic Reasoning & Robust Omics Workflow (Cute name!); Using the PPMI dataset, “SPARROW achieved superior performance on classification of all subtypes using the baseline visit data in a zero-shot setting” (Click here to read more about this).
• New findings “support a shared inflammatory/apoptotic regulatory module linking Parkinson’s & ulcerative colitis, & provide a systems-level framework for mechanistic studies and therapeutic prioritization, rather than a definitive biomarker panel” (Click here to read more about this).

• New meta-analysis sought to determine whether the GBA1 p.E427K variant is associated with risk of synucleinopathies; They conclude it is & “& should be considered in genetic studies & clinical trials” (Click here to read more about this).
• Exploiting the Disease Course Map model, researchers investigated how clinical signs evolve in patients with idiopathic/isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD). They found 3 individual clinical markers that were able to monitor disease progression (Click here to read more about this).
• A new study applying a drug target Mendelian randomization framework to assess associations between genetic variation in antidiabetic drug targets & Parkinson’s risk or age at onset finds data do not support a causal role of genetic variation (Click here to read more about this).
• New observations suggest “a multifaceted, region-specific dysregulation of GABAergic neurotransmission extending beyond the canonical dopaminergic framework. GABA plays a definite modulatory role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s” (Click here to read more about this).
• Researchers present the development of AI-based dopamine transporter (DAT) image generation technique for Parkinson’s using early phase [18F]-FP-CIT PET imaging (Click here to read more about this).

• New study suggests the combination of CSF α-synuclein seed amplification assay & amyloid-β42 predicts cognitive decline in Parkinson’s; 692 participants (145 controls & 547 individuals with PD from the PPMI dataset – Click here to read more about this).
• New findings “support a versatile architecture for movement initiation that flexibly engages distinct cortico-subcortical circuits depending on incentive phenomenology” (Click here to read more about this).
• New research finds CSF Alzheimer’s biomarkers “showed domain-specific relationships with cognitive function & predicted both neuropsychological decline & motor progression” in 52 Parkinson’s patients (Click here to read more about this).
• New research presents one of the largest survival prognostic factors studies of a cohort of 555 Multiple system atrophy patients; Higher baseline UMSARS & faster UMSARS progression were negative prognostic factors (Click here to read more about this).
• Researchers report that in addition to dopamine loss & increased αlpha synuclein-P129, “neurodegeneration in idiopathic Parkinson’s is associated with a conversion of parkin into an insoluble high molecular weight form in the substantia nigra” (Click here to read more about this).
• Sleep apnea again: New data suggests the co-occurrence of obstructive sleep apnea & Parkinson’s may be related to early structural brain changes, highlighting the importance of timely OSA diagnosis & management to potentially delay cognitive decline in PD (Click here to read more about this).

• A prospective cohort of 40 Parkinson’s cases, 29 multiple system atrophy (MSA), 77 progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), & 20 controls finds serum neurofilament light chain distinguished MSA from PD & correlated with disease severity in PSP (Click here to read more about this).
• New research (using PPMI data) indicates that molecular confirmation of synuclein aggregation (via α-synuclein seed amplification assay) provides limited stratification of neurodegeneration detected by free-water imaging in early Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).
• Researchers present “the first in vivo evidence that lower synaptic density in mood-related brain regions may contribute to depression in Parkinson’s“; SV2A PET imaging finds synaptic density was -vely correlated with the severity of depressive symptoms (Click here to read more about this).
• A case report of Parkinson’s in isolated congenital anosmia with absent olfactory bulbs – challenging “strict OB-necessity models & suggests PD can arise despite apparent congenital absence of an intact OB” (Click here to read more about this).
• 133 isolated REM sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD) patients & 101 non-RBD cases were followed for a mean of 6.9  yrs; Motor & global cognitive functions exhibited nonlinear progression in iRBD, with marked acceleration before parkinsonism or dementia diagnosis (Click here to read more about this).

• Analysis of tissue-specific mitochondrial RNA processing of 377k UK Biobank cases finds “significant associations between predicted mtDNA transcript abundance & multiple common diseases & quantitative traits”; Parkinson’s associations involve Complex I genes (Click here to read more about this).
• Alpha-synuclein status (CSF seeding amplification assay) was assessed in 269 clinically unimpaired individuals; 9% of samples = +ve; Compared to -ve samples, +ve cases were older, showed lower synaptic integrity, & performed worse on executive function/memory tests (Click here to read more about this).
• Evaluation of serum samples from 40 Parkinson’s patients finds GDF-15 levels are linked to both motor & non-motor aspects, & may reflect overall disease burden; Larger, longitudinal studies are needed to validate (Click here to read more about this).
• New retrospective cohort study finds schizophrenia patients had a significantly higher risk of developing Parkinson’s (adjusted hazard ratio=3.2). Risperidone use was associated with an increased risk of PD, while quetiapine use was associated with a reduced risk (Click here to read more about this).
• New paper shares insights from the Black & African American Connections to Parkinson’s (BLAAC PD) study (a PD genetics research study) on practical approaches to inclusive recruitment practices (Click here to read more about this).

• Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) levels in blood “remain remarkably stable with age and across lifestyle interventions, but change in response to nicotinamide riboside supplementation” (Click here to read more about this).
• New research results “suggest that current age at onset-based recommendations, particularly restricting testing to age at onset 50 years & younger, fail to identify a substantial proportion of patients with Parkinson’s & pathogenic variants” (Click here to read more about this).
• Findings of a systematic review & meta-analysis (9 longitudinal cohorts; n=900; 6.4 yrs follow-up) finds that pure autonomic failure “may be a prodromal presentation of Parkinson’s, DLB, or MSA with phenoconversion incidence rates similar to those of RBD” (Click here to read more about this).
• The trial protocol for the Syn-Q study has been published. Quantifying cutaneous phosphorylated alpha-synuclein across a range of Parkinson’s severity & in isolated REM sleep behavior disorder, & measure changes in phosphorylated alpha-synuclein over time (Click here to read more about this).
• Analysis of plasma extracellular vesicles from participants of a prebiotic intervention study finds that extracellular vesicles proteomic profiles differs between Parkinson’s & controls (plus btwn unmedicated & medicated PD; Prebiotic shifted extracellular vesicles proteomic profiles to control (Click here to read more about this).

New clinical trials

• New clinical trial registered: RESvEraTrol in Parkinson’s Disease (RESET) has been initiated. This is an exploratory Phase 2a study to investigate two doses of resveratrol (JotrolTM) vs placebo in 30 individuals with Parkinson’s, who will be randomized 1:1:1 into 3 groups for daily treatment over 3 months (Click here to read more about this).
• New clinical trial registered: Qilu Pharmaceutical has initiated a 12-week Phase 2 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of monosialotetrahexosylganglioside sodium (GM1) injections in 276 people with Parkinson’s with motor fluctuations (Click here to read more about this).
• New clinical trial registered: Researchers have initiated a Phase 2 study assessing the efficacy of two doses of psilocybin therapy for depression in 40 people with Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).
• New clinical trial registered: Pharma company Bayer has initiated a Phase 2, open-label, single group, fixed-dose study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a single bilateral intraputaminal administration of AB-1005 (AAV2-GDNF gene therapy) in 8 Japanese participants with moderate stage Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).

• New clinical trial registered: A mixed-methods study exploring the effectiveness and acceptability of a exoskeleton-assisted mobility in Parkinson’s. The researchers are looking for 26 participants (Click here to read more about this).
• New clinical trial registered: Synusight Biotech have initiated an open-label Phase 1 study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of SST001 (an αlpha-synuclein PET tracer) in healthy volunteers, patients with Multiple System Atrophy, and patients with Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).
• New clinical trial registered: Duke University is setting up a biorepository for the Gut-Brain in PD Consortium Master Protocol (GBPDC), which will collect prospective cross-sectional and longitudinal participant biospecimens with temporally coordinated evaluations of gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms and functions to better characterise the phenotype of 250 people with Parkinson’s versus those without (Click here to read more about this).
• New clinical trials registered: Researchers in Sweden have initiated a longitudinal cohort study called “ActivPARK” that will look at physical activity in 450 people with Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).

Clinical trial news

• The results of the ADepT-PD study have been published: A placebo-controlled 3-armed pilot trial of Escitalopram or Nortriptyline for depressive symptoms in Parkinson’s; Study did not reach its primary aim of feasibility due to recruitment difficulties (Click here to read more about this).
• New analysis of 3 cell transplantation trials “that mark a significant leap forward for Parkinson’s therapy”; “The path forward requires larger, blinded trials, protocol optimization, & long-term monitoring”; “How can we make this better & available for all?” (Click here to read more about this).
• The results of the INmuneBio phase 2 MINDFuL trial of XPro1595 (soluble TNF inhibitor) in early Alzheimer’s; The study didn’t meet the primary endpoint, but consistent directional patterns favoring XPro1595 across cognitive and neuropsychiatric outcomes in subpopulation (Click here to read more about this).

Conferences/lectures

• The Edinburgh Parkinson’s Lecture will take at 7.15pm on the evening of Tuesday 22nd September at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Prof Miratul Muqit (from Dundee University) will be presenting on the topic of Power failure in the Brain: the mitochondrial basis of Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).
• The Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s and Rallying to the Challenge meetings will be held on the 23rd and 24th September in Grand Rapids (Michigan). The 2026 theme, From Brain Pathology to Biological Intervention, combines emerging mechanistic insights with new opportunities for therapeutic intervention.
• Parkinson’s UK are holding their two day PAR CON research and living well event for the Parkinson’s community at the Vox Conference Venue in Birmingham on the 13th and 14th November (Click here to learn more about this).
• The 36th annual Network for European CNS Transplantation and Restoration (NECTAR) meeting will be held in Amsterdam on the 7-8th December (Click here to read more about this).

Other news

• Acurex Biosciences has been awarded an ASAP Research grant to advance their 15-lipoxygenase programme towards human clinical trials in Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).
• Vertero announces first participant with Parkinson’s dosed in their Phase 1b study of VT-5006 (an oral, gut-selective CsgA inhibitor – Click here to read more about this)
• Herantis Pharma partners with Indivi to enable detection of early treatment effects in upcoming HER-096 Phase 2 trial in Parkinson’s (Click here to read more about this).

Review articles/videos

And there it is, just some of the highlights from May 2026 – another very busy month of Parkinson’s research. Hopefully there will be bits and pieces of interest for everyone in the list. Much of the material used here was collected from the Science of Parkinson s Twitter and Bluesky feeds (and there is a lot more posted there each day).

Any thoughts/feedback would be greatly appreciated (either in the comments below, or contact me directly).

And now: on to June!!!

All of the material on this website is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
You can do whatever you like with it!

---

EDITOR S NOTE: The author of this post is an employee of Cure Parkinson s, so he might be a little bit biased in his views on research and clinical trials supported by the trust. That said, the trust has not requested the production of this post, and the author is sharing it simply because it may be of interest to the Parkinson s community.

The information provided by the SoPD website is for information and educational purposes only. Under no circumstances should it ever be considered medical or actionable advice. It is provided by research scientists, not medical practitioners. Any actions taken based on what has been read on the website are the sole responsibility of the reader. Any actions being contemplated by readers should firstly be discussed with a qualified healthcare professional who is aware of your medical history. While some of the information discussed in this post may cause concern, please speak with your medical physician before attempting any change in an existing treatment regime.

In addition, many of the companies mentioned in this post are publicly traded companies. That said, the material presented on this page should under no circumstances be considered financial advice. Any actions taken by the reader based on reading this material is the sole responsibility of the reader. None of the companies have requested that this material be produced, nor has the author had any contact with any of the companies or associated parties. This post has been produced for educational purposes only.

---