10 January 2023
A large trial at UCLH and UCL will investigate whether a drug currently in use to treat respiratory conditions can slow the progress of Parkinson’s disease.
The Phase 3 clinical trial of ambroxol will begin in early 2023 following promising results reported in a Phase 2 trial in 2020.
The ASPro-PD study is a world-first Phase 3 trial aimed at establishing ambroxol’s potential to slow the progression of Parkinson’s. It will begin in 2023 following promising results reported in a Phase 2 trial in 2020.
The £5.5 million trial is driven by UK charity Cure Parkinson’s, in partnership with Van Andel Institute and following eight years of work with the Parkinson’s community.
Professor Anthony Schapira at UCLH and UCL will lead the trial, which will involve 330 people with Parkinson’s across 10-12 clinical centres in the UK. The trial is placebo controlled and participants will take ambroxol for two years. The effectiveness of ambroxol will be measured by its ability to slow the progression of Parkinson’s using a scale including quality of life and movement. Preparations for recruitment of trial participants have already started.
Ambroxol is one of the drugs prioritised by the International Linked Clinical Trials (iLCT) programme, created and operated by Cure Parkinson’s and Van Andel Institute. The programme’s mission is to slow, stop and reverse the progression of Parkinson’s. It aims to significantly reduce the time to bring disease-modifying treatments to clinic for the Parkinson’s community by testing promising drugs that already have extensive safety data and, in some cases, have been approved by regulators for other medical conditions.
About ambroxol
Ambroxol is a commonly used medication in Europe as a treatment for respiratory diseases. It promotes the clearance of mucus, eases coughing and has anti-inflammatory properties.
After reviewing pre-clinical laboratory data from Professor Schapira’s group at UCL, a committee of experts brought together by Cure Parkinson's in 2014 prioritised ambroxol for further investigation agreeing that it has the potential to slow or stop the progression of Parkinson’s. This was based on the demonstration that ambroxol could increase the removal of alpha-synuclein, a protein that builds up in Parkinson’s and is thought to be important in its cause.
