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Australian Parkinson's Mission

Improving quality of life for people living with Parkinson’s — and discovering how to slow, stop and cure the disease.

Close up 3D image of neurons

The Australian Parkinson's Mission (APM) is an innovative seven-year research program, combining clinical trials and biomarker technologies with breakthrough genomics for people living with Parkinson's disease.

We hope to identify and validate a precision medicine framework for treating and preventing Parkinson's disease. 

The APM was conceived as an Australian-led international collaboration between the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Shake It Up Australia Foundation, the University of Sydney, the Cure Parkinson’s Trust (UK), The Michael J. Fox Foundation (USA) and Parkinson’s Australia.

In 2019 the APM received $30 million in Federal funding from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to slow and stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease.

The Australian Parkinson's Mission is conducting a seven-year Australian clinical trials program using repurposed drugs (potentially disease modifying drugs that could slow, stop or reverse Parkinson’s progression), integrated with transformative research, to identify and fast-track effective treatments for people with Parkinson’s.

Clinical trial site locations

The Australian Parkinson’s Mission clinical trial (APM001) is open for participant enrolment and recruitment. To determine whether you are eligible to participate in the clinical trial, please contact the closest site in your state.

Site

Contact name

Address

Phone/email

St Vincent’s Hospital

Dr Stephen Tisch, Consultant Neurologist

St Vincent's Hospital

390 Victoria Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010

marko.garcia@svha.org.au

Brain and Mind Centre

(Camperdown)

Stacey West

 

94 Mallett Street Camperdown NSW 2050

 

+61 (2) 9114 4172

 

The Alfred Hospital

PI: Professor Kelly Bertram

Study Coordinators:

Jacki Laszczyk

Beth Sutherland

Alfred Hospital
55 Commercial Rd
Melbourne VIC 3004

j.laszczyk@alfred.org.au

b.sutherland@alfred.org.au

0428 839 787

 

Southern Neurology (Kogarah)

A/Prof Raymond Schwartz
Melissa Jones Murphy

2/19 Kensington Street
Kogarah NSW 2217

+61 (2) 8566 1500

Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service

Dr Saman Heshmat
Research Nurse: Mr Berzenn Urbi

Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service
1 Hospital Blvd.
Southport QLD 4215

+61 (7) 5687 3893

Royal Adelaide Hospital

PI: Dr John Tillett
Nurse Consultant/SC: Lynda Huddy

Level 9G 370 Royal Adelaide Hospital Port Road
Adelaide SA 5000

lynda.huddy@sa.gov.au

John Hunter Hospital

PI: Dr Elizabeth Pepper, RN: Olivia Chisholm

2 Lookout Road, New Lambton NSW 2305

+61 (2) 4985 5442

olivia.chisholm@health.nsw.gov.au

Please note: some sites may have additional processes e.g. wearing a mask. Please contact the site directly for further information.

If you're interested in participating in the APM001 clinical trial, you will first have to undergo a screening process to determine if you qualify for the trial. Screening may begin over the phone with your closest site. When you contact the site to be screened, there may be a short wait. Please be patient during this time.

News updates

  • Clinical trial update: 8th May 2023

    Recruitment for the Australian Parkinson’s Mission clinical trial (APM001) will come to an end in December 2023. Information regarding the second Australian Parkinson’s Mission clinical trial (APM002) will be posted as soon as it’s available.

  • Clinical trial update: 29 October 2020

    We are pleased to announce the Australian Parkinson’s Mission clinical trial (APM001) has now commenced, with eight sites across Australia (in NSW, VIC, SA, WA and QLD), opening for participant enrolment and recruitment beginning in the upcoming months. (Please note that some centres have already started screening and recruiting participants while other centres will begin in the near future).

    Each site will continue enrolment and recruitment activities for 12 months from the initial start date.The first clinical trial, APM001, will end recruitment in December 2023

    New partner: 25 October 2019

    We are excited to announce that the University of Sydney will join the APM as a partner, joining the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, The Cure Parkinson’s Trust, Shake It Up Australia, Parkinson’s Australia and the Michael J. Fox Foundation. The University of Sydney is one of Australia's leading higher education and research universities and will bring critical expertise to the program.

    Media release: 30 January 2019

    The Australian Parkinson’s Mission, an innovative program combining clinical trials with genomics research for people with Parkinson’s, has received $30 million in Federal Government funding, the most significant investment in Australian Parkinson’s research.

    The funding, announced by Federal Minister for Health, The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, will enable the Australian Parkinson’s Mission to identify desperately needed disease modifying drugs with the potential to slow the progression of Parkinson’s.

Frequently asked questions

    • Male or female aged 25 to 80 (inclusive)
    • Diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease
    • Stable on dopaminergic Parkinson’s disease treatment for at least four weeks.
    • Participants will undergo whole genome sequencing and analysis to identify the genomic variations contributing to their disease and inform clinicians which patients are most likely to respond to each of the treatments being trialled.
    • Receive one of the three experimental treatments for Parkinson’s Disease. These treatments are currently being used for the treatment of other diseases; they are therefore known as repurposed medicines. You will receive either one of the repurposed medicines or a placebo (a placebo is a medication with no active ingredients).
    • Undertake a physical examination, measurement of vital signs (heart rate, temperature, and blood pressure), electrocardiogram (ECG) as well as your weight and height.
    • Have standard blood tests (e.g. cell counts, blood chemistry, blood sugars, pregnancy test) plus provide a collection of blood, saliva and urine for biomarker and genomic research
    • Complete a number of Parkinson’s disease assessments at each visit of the five visits.
    • New South Wales – Sydney
      • Brain and Mind Centre
      • St Vincent’s Sydney
      • Southern Neurology
    • Victoria – Melbourne
    • South Australia - Adelaide
    • Queensland – Gold Coast

    Further information about clinical trial locations.

  • There is no cost associated for the participants of the Australian Parkinson’s Mission. The costs of the trials have been funded through the Federal Government and philanthropic contributions.

    Patients participating in the clinical trial will be reimbursed for travel related expenses as approved by a Human Research Ethics Committee.

  • The APM provides an opportunity for people to be involved in a variety of ways.

    Registering your interest is your opportunity to contribute to the APM program.

    Subscribe for APM Updates and we'll keep you informed as the program develops.

  • A clinical trial is a research investigation in which people volunteer to trial new treatments, interventions, drugs and tests to find better ways to prevent, screen for, diagnose or treat disease.

  • By the time a new drug reaches the clinical trial stage, it has already been extensively tested in a laboratory session for side effects and patients are carefully monitored by doctors and nurses during the trial period. However, when testing a new drug, one of the purposes of the trials is to deem whether there are any problems or side effects.

    For the first clinical trial, the drugs being trialled for the Australian Parkinson’s Mission are not new drugs, but have been repurposed for this program.    

  • A repurposed drug is a drug that has already been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) – a division of the Australian Government’s Department of Health – for one disease. A repurposed drug means that same drug is used again in a clinical trial to see whether it can help people with another disease. Repurposed drugs have already been through clinical trials for another disease, and have been demonstrated as safe in healthy volunteers.

  • New drug development is a long and costly procedure. From the time a new compound is discovered, it can take upwards of a decade and billions of dollars before it is available on the market. By using drugs that already have passed rigorous safety and toxicology trials, the Australian Parkinson’s Mission aims to significantly cut the amount of time it takes for a potential treatment to move from the laboratory to clinical trials and, ultimately, to the patient. 

  • Off-label drug use is a broad term that refers the unapproved use of an approved drug. Drugs that have been approved by the TGA have been approved for a specific disease or particular uses – any deviation from this is considered off-label use.

  • When medically appropriate, medical practitioners can, and do, prescribe medication for off-label use. However, just because a drug is safe for a person with one condition, safety cannot be assumed for a person with a different disease or health issue.

    Given the chronic nature of Parkinson’s disease, a new drug must be tolerated over an extended period of time, most likely for life, and the safety, tolerability and efficacy of a drug can only be determined after extensive clinical trials.

    It is essential these treatments are evaluated for safety in Parkinson’s and that you and your doctor have rigorous scientific evidence on which to base your treatment decisions. This will hopefully avoid potential harmful effects and adverse health outcomes.

  • Our genome is the complete set of genetic information we inherit from our parents, encoded within 2m of DNA packed tightly into each of our cells as chromosomes. A human genome is approximately 6 billion bases, or letters of DNA code. Genomics is the study of the structure and function of the genome of an organism.

    Find out more in this explainer: Anatomy of a gene

  • DNA sequencing is a laboratory technique used to determine the sequence of units or bases in a DNA molecule. Sequencing methods have changed over time; the machines used by Garvan’s Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics use complex chemistry and high-resolution optics to determine the sequence.

    The DNA sequence is a series of letters – As, Cs, Gs, and Ts – that represent the order of base pairs in a person’s DNA. The sequence of a single human genome has approximately 6 billion letters to read and interpret. In a sequencing laboratory, machines break the DNA up into manageable segments and read the order of the DNA bases or letters. Computers are then used to compare the DNA sequence with other sequences to locate the differences or variants.

  • A cohort is a group of people who share one or more important characteristics. Cohort studies usually focus on a group over time and help researchers learn about how a range of factors affect health and disease. In a genomic cohort, the genome of each individual is sequenced in order to compare it with others, both within in the cohort and beyond.

Ask the MD: Repurposed Therapies and Parkinson's Disease

The APM research program uses repurposed drugs (potentially disease modifying drugs that could slow or stop Parkinson’s progression), integrated with genomics research. The APM aims to identify and fast track effective treatments to people with Parkinson’s. The APM program is running over seven years, with the recruitment for the clinical trial having begun in June 2020.

For clinicians wanting to register interest with the APM, simply complete the form below indicating the information you would like to learn more about.

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To register your interest with the APM today, simply complete the form below indicating the information you would like to learn more about.

Contact us

Email: info@theapm.org.au

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