Roche advances treatment for Parkinson’s disease

Ella Day | June 16, 2025 | News story | Research and Development |  Neurology, Parkinson’s disease, Roche, clinical trials, neurodegenerative disease 

Swiss biopharma, Roche, has announced its decision to proceed with phase 3 trials of prasinezumab, an investigational therapy for Parkinson’s disease. This decision is influenced by positive data from the phase 2b PADOVA study, ongoing open-label extensions (OLEs) of PADOVA as well as phase 2 PASADENA studies.

Multiple endpoints from the PADOVA and OLE studies suggest clinical benefit of prasinezumab when added to effective symptomatic treatment in early-stage Parkinson’s disease. There was a 30% to 40% relative reduction in motor progression after two years versus those treated with placebo across the overall and levopoda-treated population.

Commenting on the results, Levi Garraway, chief medical officer and head of global product development at Roche, said: “We are encouraged by the efficacy signals observed, combined with the favourable safety and tolerability profile of prasinezumab.”

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive and debilitating neurodegenerative disease, which is becoming increasingly prevalent. Though symptomatic treatments that alleviate motor symptoms are available, there are no therapies that slow down or stop the progression of the disease.

Prasinezumab is a monoclonal antibody designed to slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease by reducing the build-up of alpha-synuclein protein in the brain. It is one of Roche’s several approaches to slowing or stopping the progression of Parkinson’s, all of which target underlying disease processes.

The prospective treatment “may have the potential to become the first disease-modifying treatment for people with Parkinson’s disease,” said Garraway.

Ella Day

16/6/25