March 2026 update

In short

Intranasal dosing expanded in the Parkinson's studies. Participants continued to send reports about mobility, thinking and daily life.

March's update was one of the longest of the year. It opened by marking 28 years since Zhittya's chief executive began working with FGF-1, after a 1998 published report on the protein from researchers in Germany in another research area.

Looking up the published research

A common question from readers, the update said, is why their own doctors have not heard of FGF-1. The chief executive's answer was that the research is public and that anyone can now look it up with AI search tools. He listed questions the team had put to an AI system, with its answers, and encouraged readers to check them independently.

The first question was about angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels. The answer was that the first paper linking FGF-1 to angiogenesis was written in 1985 by Kenneth A. Thomas, and that 595 peer-reviewed papers have followed. Peer-reviewed means other experts checked the work before it was published.

The second was about neurogenesis, the creation and repair of neurons, which are nerve cells. The answer pointed to a November 1987 paper by Rydel and Greene in the Journal of Neuroscience, and to about 80 to 120 peer-reviewed papers since.

Other answers summarized published research on the brain, the spinal cord and blood vessels. According to those summaries, the research describes FGF-1 as protecting neurons, supporting the regrowth of nerve fibers and helping repair the blood-brain barrier. The first paper on FGF-1 and blood vessel repair at the level of cells was dated October 1991, with more than 630 papers on that topic since.

All of these counts are the AI system's answers as the update reported them, up to March 1, 2026.

A monkey study and the brain's waste system

The update described a 2022 article about a lymphatic system in the brain. The lymphatic system is the body's main way of removing waste from cells. The update said many brain disorders are believed to be linked to waste that is not removed.

It then showed images from a study in monkeys, carried out by researchers outside Zhittya. The monkeys were given a toxin that causes a Parkinson's-like condition, and they developed symptoms nine months later. Half then received FGF-1 and half received nothing.

The update said the brain of a monkey that received FGF-1 showed less alpha-synuclein than the brain of one that did not. Alpha-synuclein is a protein that builds up in the brain in Parkinson's.

The team had assumed that added blood flow helped clear the buildup. The update raised a second possibility: that FGF-1 supports repair of the lymphatic system. It said the question was still open.

A setback and a new question

The update was open about a failure. The team had given two people with painful foot neuropathy, a kind of nerve damage, a series of FGF-1 injections into the feet. Neither had a measurable reduction in pain, and the project was set aside.

Later, three participants in another Zhittya research study, who received FGF-1 through the nose, reported that their foot pain had gone. The team wondered whether some foot pain might begin with faulty signals in the brain, as phantom limb pain does. The update said the team did not know, and that it planned to dose a few people with foot neuropathy through the nose to find out.

Dosing, the team and six-month check-ins

The update said more than 250 people with Parkinson's had received FGF-1. For brain disorders, FGF-1 is now given through the nose with a nebulizer, a device that turns liquid into a fine mist. This is the fifth delivery device the team has used.

Over three and a half years, the team had gradually raised the dose. It reported that participants showed more improvement as the dose rose.

For newer readers, the update introduced Zhittya's founders. Among them, Jack Jacobs, the president and chief science officer, was part of the Washington University laboratory team where FGF-1 was first purified and characterized. Natasha Stefanova Staneva, a neuroscientist who studies Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, joined the team in a lead research role.

The update said data from the research studies would be collected for future applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Participants are interviewed every six months, the update said, and their answers are entered into a computer system that reports on improvement or lack of improvement. In a recent report on participants dosed for six months or longer, a majority said that problems with urinary control or constipation had improved or were no longer an issue.

The update shared six messages from participants and family members. They touched on walking, tremor, balance, sleep, travel and daily activity. One participant wrote that his progress had leveled off between doses.

This summary covers the Parkinson's research in the March 2026 update. The complete update, including the other topics it covered, is below.