Harnessing the power of patient data to accelerate new treatments for Parkinson's

Today we announce that we're joining forces with The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) to fund a major collaborative UK-led initiative that will create a unique new data bank to accelerate the search for new treatments. It's called the Parkinson’s Clinical Cohorts Collaborative (PC3). Led by Professor Alastair Noyce at Queen Mary University of London, whom we have proudly supported for over 15 years.

Tackling barriers in Parkinson’s research

Despite progress in Parkinson’s research, there are currently no approved treatments proven to slow or stop Parkinson’s progression. Key challenges include the lack of reliable ways to measure progression, high rates of misdiagnosis, and the wide variability in how Parkinson’s affects individuals.

We're already funding important studies like PREDICT-PD, which focuses on identifying people at high risk of developing Parkinson’s in its earliest stages, and the Oxford Discovery project, which tracks people already diagnosed with the condition. While these studies are gathering valuable data, they are currently working separately.

PC3 will unite these efforts and several others, to bring together data from approximately 10,000 people with Parkinson’s, 1,000 individuals with early signs of the condition, and 10,000 control participants. Building a picture from the earliest signs of Parkinson’s to the more advanced stages.

This comprehensive dataset will span demographics, symptoms, genetics, and blood samples. Crucially, it will also integrate NHS health records, offering valuable insights into related health conditions, medication use, hospital admissions and causes of death.

Building a resource for the future

Over the next three years, the PC3 team will focus on setting up this vital resource, which will enable researchers worldwide to make progress towards:

• Better ways to measure the progression of the condition and measure the effects of new treatments.
• Prediction of who is at risk of developing Parkinson’s, how they might progress and what treatments might work for them.
• Understanding how factors such as sex, gender, socioeconomic status, and other health conditions influence Parkinson’s.

Professor David Dexter, The Director of Research at Parkinson’s UK, said: 

"At Parkinson’s UK, we’re determined to break down the barriers that slow progress in research.This groundbreaking collaboration, led by Parkinson’s UK alongside The Michael J. Fox Foundation will harness the power of ‘big data’ to transform our understanding of Parkinson’s and provide a launchpad for delivering new treatments faster."

Professor Alastair Noyce principal investigator of PC3, PREDICT-PD and the East London Parkinson’s disease project, at QMUL, said: 

"We have worked hard for several years to secure funding to create what we believe will be a transformative resource for Parkinson’s research. We are very grateful to The Michael J. Fox Foundation and Parkinson’s UK for supporting PC3. Mostly however we are grateful to the UK participants who have contributed data to the numerous studies researching Parkinson’s, many of which have granted permission to link their research data to their healthcare records to answer questions in a way that no other study can."

Leslie Kirsch, Vice President of the Head of Research Data Resources at The Michael J. Fox Foundation, said:

"Bringing together research cohorts and national health data in a secure and responsible way represents an important step in understanding Parkinson’s progression over time. By supporting initiatives like PC3, we aim to strengthen the research infrastructure that enables scientists to study long-term outcomes and accelerate the development of more effective therapies."