A Parkinson's pill born in a Rockefeller lab gave patients their days back in a Phase 3 trial

Nathaniel Heintz's lab at Rockefeller University flagged an obscure brain molecule called GPR6 nearly two decades ago, when almost no one else was studying it. This month, the company Cerevance — co-founded with Heintz — reported that a once-daily pill aimed at that target, solengepras, succeeded in a large Phase 3 trial: added to their usual medication, people with Parkinson's got more time each day with symptoms under control, managed everyday activities better, and felt less daytime sleepiness. 'For some patients, this drug completely changed their life,' Heintz says. 'It's not just they move better; they feel better.' Most late-stage neurological drugs hit targets other medicines already use; solengepras is aimed at a single, precisely defined brain circuit no approved drug targets — and the same mapping tools behind it have already surfaced candidate targets for Alzheimer's and addiction.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation