Cell Therapy in Parkinson Disease: Bemdaneprocel and What Lies Ahead
Mind Moments®, a podcast from our sister site NeurologyLive®, held an exclusive interview with Rajesh Pahwa, MD.
This interview originally appeared on our sister site, NeurologyLive®.
Episode 143 of the NeurologyLive® Mind Moments® podcast is now live! Scroll down to listen or click here to subscribe on your favorite streaming service.
The Mind Moments podcast features exclusive interviews with leaders in neurology discussing the latest research and disease management strategies across the breadth of the field, including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease (PD), dementia, sleep disorders, and more.
In this episode, "Bemdaneprocel and the Future of Cell Therapy in Parkinson Disease" Rajesh Pahwa, MD, the director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Center at the University of Kansas Medical Center, speaks on the phase 3 exPDite-2 clinical trial, which is assessing investigational cell therapy bemdaneprocel for the treatment of PD. Pahwa discusses the thought process behind using cell replacement therapy with the intent of restoring production of dopamine, giving an outline of the progression from fetal tissue implants to stem cell–derived dopaminergic neurons. He goes over key elements of the trial's design, including the criteria for selecting patients, study end points, and long-term goals. Reflecting upon decades' worth of research in this field, Pahwa stresses the potential impact of a one-time, hardware-free surgical approach and how this novel option could build upon or shift the current landscape of care. Although a number of questions remain, Pahwa underlines the promise of bemdaneprocel as a next-generation therapy in PD care.
The stories featured in this week's Neurology News Minute, which provide quick updates on the following developments in neurology, are further detailed here:
- BTK Inhibitor Fenebrutinib Demonstrates Long-Term Suppression of MS Activity in Open-Label Extension
- REGENXBIO Reports Positive Phase 1/2 Data for Higher Dose of RGX-202 in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
- NewAmsterdam Pharma Reports Positive Topline Data of Alzheimer Agent Obicetrapib from Phase 3 BROADWAY Trial
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
- 1:00 – Mechanism and rationale behind bemdaneprocel as a dopaminergic cell therapy
- 3:00– Key design considerations for conducting a registrational phase 3 cell therapy trial
- 5:25 – Trial structure, eligibility criteria, and ongoing patient recruitment
- 6:35 – Neurology News Minute
- 8:45 – Significance of reaching phase 3 with a cell therapy in Parkinson disease
- 10:20 – Future role of cell therapy within the Parkinson disease treatment landscape
- 12:10 – Unique aspects of the exPDite-2 trial and what sets it apart from earlier efforts
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