“The completion of the Activate study by the first patient constitutes a significant step”, indicates the researcher of this study, from the biopharmaceutical company Bial. Parkinson’s disease affects more than 10 million worldwide.
The biopharmaceutical announced on Tuesday that a first patient has completed the treatment period of phase 2 of the ‘Activate’ clinical study on a therapy for people with Parkinson’s, a disease that affects more than 10 million worldwide.
“The completion of the Activate study by the first patient constitutes a significant step”, indicates Joaquim Ferreira, professor of Neurology and Clinical Pharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and researcher of this study, cited in a statement from Bial.
BIA 28-6156 in clinical trial aims to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), who have “a mutation in the glucocerebrosidase 1 (GBA1) gene (PD-GBA)”.
PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and “5-15% of patients (…) have mutations in the GBA gene, making it, numerically, the most important genetic risk factor” for Parkinson’s.
Furthermore, “patients with PD-GBA tend to have, on average, an earlier onset of symptoms” compared to others, and these “are more severe and progress significantly faster, leading to a worse prognosis, which highlights the importance of developing new solutions that can impact disease progression.”
“There is huge expectation”
According to Joaquim Ferreira, this stage of the study “reflects another step in the exceptional effort to advance treatment options for Parkinson’s disease, in particular for patients with GBA1 mutations.”
“There is enormous anticipation surrounding the potential of BIA 28-6156, not only for the PD-GBA patient community, but also for the Parkinson’s patient community at large,” he added.
Joerg Holenz, the company’s scientific director, explains that BIA 28-6156 “has a specific mechanism of action (…) with the ability to delay clinical motor progression.”
This “may be the first drug to modify the underlying cause of the disease”, says the Bial statement.
More than 230 genetically confirmed patients with PD-GBA were recruited for this study at 85 centers in Europe and North America and its main data are expected to be published in mid-2026.
Based in Trofa, in the Porto metropolitan area, Bial’s main research areas are neurosciences and rare diseases.
