Landmark 262 · Trial in people
EFFACE-PD faecal transplant (Warsaw)
Did not change movement scores over 12 months in 59 people.
In short
In a 59-person Polish placebo-controlled trial, one colonoscopic faecal transplant did not change the Parkinson's motor score over 12 months.
- What it is
- Trial in people
- Outcome
- Did not work
- When
- 2022–2026
- Size
- 59 people · Phase 2
- Approach
- Look beyond the brain
- Research lane
- Gut–brain origin
- Trial registry
- NCT05204641
- Last checked
- 18 Oct 2026
The research record
This is the project's file for this landmark, as written and checked. Sources are listed at the end; anything not yet confirmed is marked "Not yet verified".
Who
Medical University of Warsaw (sponsor); first author Figura and colleagues.
What happened
EFFACE-PD (NCT05204641) was a Phase 2, randomised, quadruple-masked trial titled "Effect of Fecal Microbiota Transfer on Progression of Parkinson Disease". Its registered primary measure was change in the progression of motor symptoms. Faecal microbiota transplant (FMT) means putting donor stool bacteria into the patient's gut.
- 59 people took part: 28 received donor stool and 31 received their own stool as placebo, by one colonoscopy.
- Follow-up was 12 months. The registry shows the trial ran 4 Jan 2022 to 8 Oct 2024.
- Off-medication motor score (MDS-UPDRS part III) did not differ between groups: difference 1.50 points (95% CI -4.28 to 7.28).
- Some non-motor measures improved at some time points. The authors concluded that a single transplant does not change motor symptoms.
- The result was published in Annals of Neurology in 2026.
Why it moved us toward a cure
Mouse work (landmark 56) suggested gut bacteria shape synuclein disease. EFFACE-PD asked directly, against a placebo, whether altering them slows progression. Its negative result, together with the Finnish trial, tempers the Belgian positive signal (landmark 139). The Israeli pilot is in landmark 263.
Outcome
Dead end for a single colonoscopic transplant on motor progression at 12 months. It does not rule out repeated doses, different donors or other routes, which other trials have used.
Sources
- Figura et al., Ann Neurol 2026;100:10–21, DOI 10.1002/ana.78153, PMID 41674471
- NCT05204641, Medical University of Warsaw
- Not yet verified: the paper's full text (the figures here come from landmark 139's earlier reading of the abstract and the registry); the donor-screening method; the non-motor results in detail; whether the trial reached its planned size.
How it connects
Built on
- tests Gut microbes and synuclein mice · 2016
Led to
None recorded.