In a Manhattan office with sweeping city views, located on the 77th floor of One World Trade Center, executives from pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms such as Regeneron and Merck were recently presented with an intriguing proposal: to collaborate on research into GLP-1 drugs for Parkinson’s disease. Given the surge in popularity of diabetes and weight loss medications like Ozempic and Zepbound, GLP-1 receptor agonists have emerged as potential treatments for a broad spectrum of illnesses.
Research into GLP-1s is currently underway for conditions including cardiovascular disease, liver ailments, kidney disease, and Alzheimer’s. Older approved GLP-1 medications from Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Amylin have been or are being examined for their effects on Parkinson’s.
Amid the race to discover novel applications for GLP-1s, the pitch presented in October surprisingly originated from Koneksa Health, which assists drug developers in utilizing smartphone applications and wearable technology to assess the efficacy of their treatments. The presentation occurred the day before the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s annual meeting in New York. Koneksa developed a plan to study GLP-1s using its tools after researchers published findings from a randomized control trial in April. The trial revealed that patients with Parkinson’s who were taking Sanofi’s GLP-1 drug, Lixisenatide, did not experience a worsening of motor symptoms after a year, in contrast to those who received a placebo.
