In short
Zhittya shared the first brain imaging result more widely. The company also announced pending patent applications covering intranasal and injected FGF-1, including for Parkinson's.
The March 2025 update began with the response to a short message the company had sent about its first brain scan result. That scan, a functional MRI done at Washington University in St. Louis, compared one participant with Parkinson's before dosing and six months after he was first dosed with FGF-1. It showed a 21.2% increase in blood flow to the substantia nigra, the small brain region where dopamine-producing nerve cells sit.
Dan Montano, the chief executive, acknowledged that the team's theory, that poor blood flow in the brain underlies Parkinson's, is not well accepted by medical professionals, and that many of them question the company's results.
Interest in stroke
To his surprise, about 80% of the people who replied asked about stroke. He noted that while few doctors accept a blood flow explanation for Parkinson's, everyone accepts that stroke is caused by a loss of blood flow in the brain. The replies came from doctors, clinics and families in several countries.
The update said Zhittya had so far dosed five people who had had a stroke, and that those participants reported improvements in their recovery. It also noted that about 80% of the more than 200 people with Parkinson's dosed so far were Americans. Dr. Jack Jacobs, the company's president, was preparing a paper on FGF-1 and stroke recovery.
Dr. Jacobs on the stroke research
Dr. Jacobs reviewed the science. A healthy network of blood vessels is critical for both movement and thinking, he wrote, because nerve cells deprived of glucose and oxygen quickly waste away.
He described earlier work in animals. In an animal model of stroke, FGF-1 reduced the area of brain damage. How it did so was not entirely clear, but he suggested it may prevent stressed nerve cells from dying.
He noted that, unlike most proteins, FGF-1 has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier, the lining that keeps most substances in the blood out of the brain. In another animal model, FGF-1 stimulated the growth of new brain tissue over four weeks of stroke recovery.
He also described a study commissioned by Zhittya on delivery through the nose. It found that FGF-1 given this way spread widely through the brain, and that almost twice as much reached various brain regions as with delivery into a vein.
On the strength of those results, the company began giving FGF-1 through the nose to people who had had a stroke. Dr. Jacobs wrote that, with five participants so far, the team was seeing improvement in motor skills and thinking.
Other items
The company said it had five patent applications pending on medical uses of FGF-1. Two concerned brain conditions: one for giving FGF-1 through the nose in Parkinson's disease, and one for other diseases in which brain nerve cells are progressively lost.
The update announced that Dr. Jacobs would receive the Nevada biotechnology association's annual award on April 2. It described an outreach program in which supporters and some doctors give talks about the research to local groups, and it said the company planned its own regular video program. It also gave a five-week report from a small study in nerve pain of the feet, one of several other research areas.
The update shared comments from participants and family members on topics that included muscle cramps, sleep, swallowing, voice, handwriting, sense of smell, walking and getting up from a chair. Some also described symptoms that remained, such as tremor and fatigue, or symptoms that were new.
This summary covers the Parkinson's research in the March 2025 update. The complete update, including the other topics it covered, is below.
Read the complete March 2025 update as published
The text of the update Zhittya sent, word for word. Pictures, charts and layout are in the PDF. Open the PDF.