London-based AstronauTx has received research funding from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and Parkinson’s UK to support complementary preclinical studies exploring sleep-based approaches for Parkinson’s disease.
The MJFF-funded project, titled Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Modulation as a Disease-Modifying Treatment for Prodromal Synucleinopathies, will test whether AstronauTx compounds that enhance restorative sleep can reduce accumulation of pathological proteins linked to Parkinson’s disease.
The award was made through MJFF’s Parkinson’s Disease Therapeutics Pipeline Program to support preclinical and translational work.
In parallel, Parkinson’s UK is funding a University College London-led study, supported by AstronauTx, titled Measuring the Effects of Increasing Slow-Wave Sleep Using a Novel Mechanism on Glymphatic Transport of Alpha-Synuclein in a Parkinson’s Disease Mouse Model to evaluate whether increasing slow-wave activity and glymphatic flow promotes removal of alpha-synuclein.
The company claims these programmes will inform its broader mission to develop therapeutics targeting sleep architecture and is preparing its lead programme for clinical development in 2027.
