The STEM-PD trial will transplant dopaminergic neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells into the brains of patients 50–75 years of age with moderate Parkinson’s disease. It is important both because it is one of the few trials testing a human embryonic stem cell therapy in Parkinson’s disease, and because we are targeting people with moderate disease, which gives them the most chance to benefit from the therapy. The first patients were administered doses in February 2023, and we hope to have preliminary results by the end of 2024. 

The trial will investigate the safety and tolerability of transplanting STEM-PD cells into the brain of patients with moderate Parkinson’s disease and the primary outcome is safety and tolerability at 1-year post-transplantation. Secondary endpoints will be survival and function of the transplanted cells by brain imaging as well as effects on Parkinson’s symptoms.

The STEM-PD team is lead by Prof. Malin Parmar, Lund University, in close collaboration with WCMM Fellow Agnete Kirkeby and colleagues at Skåne University Hospital for example WCMM researcher Gesine Paul Visse, responsible clinician SUS-Lund, the University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH), and the Imperial College London.