Landmark 316 · Trial in people
Australian Parkinson's Mission APM001
In short
Australia's first platform trial gave alogliptin, albuterol, nilvadipine or placebo to 131 people (target 240) for 48 weeks; recruitment finished in February 2024, a lay summary was filed in August 2026, and I could not read any findings.
- What it is
- Trial in people
- Outcome
- Mixed or early results
- When
- 2020–2026
- Size
- 131 people · Phase 2
- Research lane
- Trial methods & regulation
- Trial registry
- ACTRN12620000560998
- Last checked
- 19 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
University of Sydney (sponsor and registered funder), with principal investigator Simon Lewis (Macquarie University); Novotech is a listed collaborator. The published design paper names a federal Medical Research Future Fund grant (GA39194) and gives no amount.
What happened
Like the UK platform (landmark 80), APM001 shares one placebo group across several drugs, here picked by the Cure Parkinson's Linked Clinical Trials committee (landmark 119):
- Albuterol (8 mg slow-release twice a day), a beta-2 agonist that lowered the SNCA gene in cells (landmark 202).
- Alogliptin (25 mg a day), a diabetes pill that raises incretin hormones, the family that includes exenatide (landmark 20).
- Nilvadipine (4 mg twice a day), a calcium-channel blocker with anti-inflammatory effects. In Alzheimer's the NILVAD trial found no benefit.
The registry (ACTRN12620000560998) calls it a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial in moderate Parkinson's on dopamine treatment at 10 sites: 48 weeks of treatment, a 12-week washout (60-week study), and a main measure of change in off-medication motor score (MDS-UPDRS) at weeks 48 and 60. First participant 26 June 2020; last 27 February 2024; final enrolment 131 against a target of 240 (no reason is given). Status is "completed". A second platform, APM002 (ACTRN12623000843651), tests doxycycline and ambroxol and is not covered here.
Why it moved us toward a cure
It is a working example of the platform model, and a test of three separate ideas at the cost of one trial.
Outcome
Open. The registry shows "date results provided" 17 August 2026 with a lay-summary attachment (not peer reviewed), which I could not open. No headline result is public.
Sources
- ANZCTR ACTRN12620000560998 (read 19 Oct 2026)
- Lewis et al., BMJ Neurol Open 2025, DOI 10.1136/bmjno-2025-001070
- Not yet verified: the findings in the lay summary; why 131 were enrolled; arm sizes; the funding amount (not stated in the sources read).
How it connects
Built on
- uses Linked Clinical Trials · 2013
- builds on β2 agonists lower SNCA · 2017
- builds on The GLP-1 idea: can diabetes drugs slow Parkinson's? · 2017
Led to
None recorded.