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Parkinson’s disease affects more than 8.5 million people worldwide and is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, after Alzheimer’s disease. Current pharmacotherapeutic strategies for treating Parkinson’s disease motor symptoms include augmenting dopamine levels in the brain through dopamine agonists, enhancing dopamine bioavailability, or limiting levodopa degradation. However, these treatments are associated with motor complications, including the development of dyskinesias and narrowing of the therapeutic window, and adverse effects such as exacerbation of non-motor symptoms. Further, these therapies do not address the loss of dopaminergic neurons; thus, there remains a critical need for novel therapies for Parkinson’s disease.
The transplantation of dopaminergic neuronal cells into the putamen is an innovative strategy for restoring dopaminergic function in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease. In this session, we will discuss the advancements in surgical techniques involved in the delivery of cell therapies in the brain. We will also discuss emerging data from the first-in-human phase 1 trial of bemdaneprocel, an hESC derived allogenic, dopaminergic progenitor cell therapy.