Dr Nat Hastings represented Cellestial Health at the RSC BMCS and Parkinson’s UK “New Approaches to the Treatment of Parkinson’s” conference on Wednesday 12th, alternating between the corporate exhibitor stand, academic poster presenter, and an audience member of the many insightful talks at the majestic Royal Society of Chemistry halls.
Here are the highlights of the event learnt by the Cellestial team:
✦ Prof David Dexter succinctly summarised key Parkinson’s statistics, emphasising the need for transformative treatments:
✦ Over 160,000 people have Parkinson’s in the UK, and this is likely to be an underestimate as over 20,000 people are still waiting for diagnosis;
✦ Only around 43% of people with Parkinson’s have tremor as the major symptom;
✦ Around 36% of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s are of working age, which incurs further economic costs, with the total cost to the UK economy alone around £3.3B annually;
✦ Parkinson’s still shortens life span by 7 years on average, even with current standard of care medications.
✦ Dr Mina Ryten highlighted that the factors that 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 the disease are not necessarily those that 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 its progression – need for stage-specific therapeutics.
✦ Anne Ferrett very kindly summarised her experience as a carer for a person with Parkinson’s, her mother Joan Baker:
✦ Importance of patient-first drug development was demonstrated – for example, is the packaging easy to open?
✦ Medication consistency is important for people with Parkinson’s;
✦ Learn more about Joan’s experience with Parkinson’s via her inspiring poetry book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Odd-Ode-Two-Collection-Parkinsons/dp/1527203778
✦ Speakers shared what worked, and sometimes what didn’t, in their journeys to develop new treatments.
✦ Importance of biodistribution and stability considerations as well as efficacy of new drugs was noted.
✦ The day concluded with Dr Lynsey Bilsland, Managing Director of Parkinson’s UK, highlighting the need for partnership across the Parkinson’s community to make new treatment approaches for Parkinson’s a reality.
Thank-you to all guests for making this day special.