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For many people with Parkinson's disease, the body stops moving the way it used to. A hand may tremble at rest. Muscles may stiffen. Walking can become slower and balance more uncertain. The most effective treatment remains L-dopa, also called levodopa, a medication that can dramatically improve movement and quality of life. But the relief often comes with a caveat: Over time, the drug's benefits can become less reliable, and it can cause erratic, involuntary movements known as dyskinesia.
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Now, researchers led by Sinopia Biosciences—a startup that grew out of University of California San Diego—have reported preclinical results that could help change that equation. In animal models of Parkinson's disease, their drug candidate, SB-0110, boosted L-dopa's benefits while reducing dyskinetic side effects.
The paper was published in Science Translational Medicine.
"Virtually every Parkinson's patient takes levodopa," said UC San Diego alumnus Aarash Bordbar, chief executive officer, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Sinopia Biosciences. "But patients face two major problems with the drug: the reappearance of Parkinson's symptoms and dyskinesia. There is no drug that can be added to L-dopa to address both simultaneously in a robust manner, and that's what our drug candidate is doing."
The need is growing. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 8.5 million people worldwide were living with Parkinson's disease in 2019 and that the disease's prevalence has doubled globally over the past 25 years. For many of those patients, the benefits of levodopa become harder to manage over time. After nine or more years of treatment, about 70% develop motor fluctuations—periods when symptoms return between doses—and about 90% develop dyskinesia.
Where computation meets biology
Bordbar conducted his graduate studies in the UC San Diego laboratory of Bernhard Palsson, who is the Y.C. Fung Endowed Professor of Bioengineering at the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering (Jacobs School of Engineering), Qualcomm Institute affiliate and professor of pediatrics. There, Bordbar worked on building computational approaches to quickly develop novel experimental and clinical strategies from large biological datasets.
Bordbar and Palsson founded Sinopia Biosciences in 2014 to carry that approach into drug development, particularly the problem of avoiding and managing side effects.
Putting the candidate to the test
In the new study, Bordbar and collaborators set out to test SB-0110's effects in rodent and nonhuman primate models of Parkinson's disease.
They had reasons to think the compound was worth investigating. Their computer analysis suggested SB-0110 could preserve the gene-activity patterns tied to L-dopa's benefits while counteracting the biological changes associated with dyskinesia.
The compound also had a practical advantage. It was based on an older heart drug with a history of use outside the United States, which gave the team some confidence about its safety. And its target, a brain signaling system called PKA-II, was already connected to movement and dopamine responses—exactly the biology they hoped to influence.
To conduct the study, Sinopia Biosciences collaborated with both private and academic partners, drawing on specialized UC San Diego expertise through Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, Chemistry and Biochemistry Susan Taylor and Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology Emeritus J. Andrew McCammon, along with Parkinson's disease model specialists at Atuka and Motac Neuroscience.
When the results came in, they showed that the compound did more than produce a modest improvement. It significantly reduced dyskinesia and, in animals that were not getting full benefit from L-dopa alone, improved movement to a degree comparable to increasing the L-dopa dose, but without the usual worsening of involuntary movements.
Looking ahead
While preclinical results don't always translate seamlessly to humans, Bordbar said, "We're really excited that there's a high chance that this could work clinically."
For patients and families eager for new options, a new treatment is not around the corner, but it is moving in the right direction. Sinopia is completing the toxicology studies needed for regulatory review and hopes to begin first-in-human testing next year.
If all goes well, Bordbar estimates the drug could be available to patients in six to seven years.
More information: A small molecule reduces both parkinsonism and L-dopa–induced dyskinesia in animal models of Parkinson's disease, Science Translational Medicine (2026). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aec7409
Provided by University of California - San Diego
This story was originally published on Medical Xpress.
