Parkinson's Foundation Launches New Program to Accelerate Clinical Trials

-- PD Trial Navigator will help inform people of genetic-focused trials --

NEW YORK and MIAMI, Aug. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Parkinson's Foundation today announced the launch of a new pilot program, PD Trial Navigator, which will help fulfill a central goal of the ongoing PD GENEration study to accelerate genetic-focused clinical trials. PD Trial Navigators will meet with and educate PD GENEration participants to help inform them of the PD genetic trials landscape and facilitate their enrollment into gene-targeted clinical trials.

"More than 25,000 people living with PD have already participated in PD GENEration. Once they learn their genetic link to Parkinson's, they can become active participants in clinical trials, accelerating our understanding of this disease and achieving breakthrough discoveries," said Parkinson's Foundation President and CEO John L. Lehr. "This pilot program is an exciting next step in the evolution of our international genetics study, which offers genetic testing and counseling to people with PD at no cost." 

Genetic-focused clinical trials are testing next-generation PD therapies and seek to provide treatments for specific PD-related gene mutations. Despite their potential, they face funding challenges and high hurdles for trial enrollment. Through PD Trial Navigator, the Parkinson's Foundation will actively engage with and guide PD GENEration participants who match trial eligibility criteria. All clinical trials must be FDA-regulated and IRB-approved, and recruiting participants within the U.S.

"Through PD GENEration, we know that, while rare, more people than expected have a Parkinson's-related genetic variant," said James Beck, PhD, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of the Parkinson's Foundation. "Not only does this underscore the need for the wide-spread testing that PD GENEration offers but also means more people may be eligible for gene-targeted therapies than ever before. We are one step closer to leveraging large and diverse global PD genetics registries – like PD GENEration – to pursue novel PD treatments."

Launched in 2019, the PD GENEration study, which tests for clinically relevant Parkinson's-related genes of people with a confirmed PD diagnosis, is the first study of its kind to return results at scale via live genetic counseling in English or Spanish. This enables participants and physicians to make more informed decisions about their care, including enrollment in gene-specific clinical trials.

"I have participated in various research studies since my PD diagnosis, but with the knowledge derived from PD GENEration, I can now target my efforts on research that focuses on my specific genetic mutation," said Daniel Rothschild, a PD GENEration participant. "I am excited that my participation in this program, which was motivated by a desire to learn more about my own diagnosis, may now enable me to help others by participating in and accelerating research that focuses on this shared genetic abnormality.  This would not be possible without the PD GENEration study." 

The Foundation partners with industry consortium members in support of our mission to end PD and lists actively recruiting PD trials here: https://www.parkinson.org/advancing-research/join-study.

The Foundation is grateful for continued support from the Global Parkinson's Genetics Program (GP2), a program of the Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) initiative. To learn more about PD GENEration, visit Parkinson.org/PDGENEration or call 1-800-4PD-INFO (473-4636). For questions about enrollment, email [email protected].

About the Parkinson's Foundation

The Parkinson's Foundation makes life better for people with Parkinson's disease by improving care and advancing research toward a cure. In everything we do, we build on the energy, experience and passion of our global Parkinson's community. Since 1957, the Parkinson's Foundation has invested more than $474 million in Parkinson's research and clinical care. Connect with us on Parkinson.org, Facebook, X, Instagram or call 1-800-4PD-INFO (1-800-473-4636).

About Parkinson's Disease

Affecting an estimated one million Americans, Parkinson's disease is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's and is the 14th-leading cause of death in the U.S. It is associated with a progressive loss of motor control (e.g., shaking or tremor at rest and lack of facial expression), as well as non-motor symptoms (e.g., depression and anxiety). There is no cure for Parkinson's and nearly 90,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the U.S.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Melissa Nobles Gonzalez
Parkinson's Foundation
[email protected]
305.537.9134

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SOURCE Parkinson's Foundation