It's everywhere.

Parkinson’s affects so many people; including family and friends of those with the disease. The statistics prove it. But statistics can be cold and distant. I’m thinking about how frequently you meet people impacted by Parkinson’s without realizing it.

Recently I damaged a piece of furniture that has been in the family for a couple of generations. We needed to find a master crafts person to repair it. We called around and were referred to a company about 40 minutes away. After emails back and forth with details and pictures; the shop representative confidently told us they could do the job.

A few days later, I dropped off the chair. They reviewed how the work would be done by their experts and how with some simple after-care the repair would continue to look great for years. It was easy to tell these folks were talented. I was given a receipt and told to expect a call in a couple of weeks when the repairs were finished.

As I was about to leave, the conversation shifted. My email signature had caught the attention of the person helping me - who turned out to be half of the team running the business. He had followed the link (to this newsletter) and learned about our work. His wife was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 12 years ago, so he was particularly interested. He shared details of the personal impact on their lives. Although his optimism was clear I could feel the sense of desperation as they waited for a breakthrough treatment.

I’m hesitant to make any promises or to allow for too much excitement. But I’ve challenged experts to find a therapy ready for clinical trials – for Parkinson’s or any other disease – that is supported as strongly by the data for RB-190. No one yet has come up with a therapy shown to work in nine standard laboratory models of disease. These kinds of models are used to predict how a drug will work in people with the disease. That’s why the clinical trial of RB-190 is so critical to launch and complete. And that’s why I am so optimistic that we are on the right path to achieve our goal: conquering Parkinson’s. 

I’m proud of what we’ve done so far in moving our vision forward. It’s been a tremendous amount of work and a fair bit of stress - way more than I anticipated when I started reading about Parkinson’s in late 2017. And while I admit that sometimes I get frustrated, meeting a person affected by Parkinson’s is a major motivator. It makes me even more dedicated to moving this forward.