April 2024 update

In short

Zhittya dosed its 150th participant with Parkinson's. With two years approaching since the first human dosing, the team began gathering longer-term follow-up reports.

In April, Zhittya finished dosing its 23rd group and passed a milestone: more than 150 people with Parkinson's had now received FGF-1. The update said some participants reported temporary headaches.

May 2024 would mark two years since the first people were dosed. With two years approaching, the team began gathering longer-term follow-up reports from its earliest participants. CEO Dan Montano wrote that Protocol 17, which adds doses at six and 12 months, appeared to bring further improvement.

He also described a surprise. When the studies began, the main aim was movement problems such as tremor. Participants had since reported changes in thinking and memory, and less anxiety, depression and apathy. The team had not expected this, he wrote, because animals in earlier experiments could not describe such changes.

Results so far and next steps

Dr. Jacobs wrote that the team had seen improvement on motor skill testing among the more than 150 participants, and that most of those with tremor had less of it. A few had reported a mild headache after nasal dosing that went away.

Mr. Montano listed what the team expected to learn in the following months. It hoped to take its first brain blood-flow scan, as a baseline for a later scan after dosing. It expected to find out whether giving FGF-1 by spinal tap was workable for brain disorders.

The update shared two comments from participants, about tremor and walking. The rest of the update covered other research areas and an upcoming conference.

This summary covers the Parkinson's research in the April 2024 update. The complete update, including the other topics it covered, is below.