World’s largest clinical trial for Parkinson’s, world record set by UK trial

October 31, 2025

London, United Kingdom--The Edmond J. Safra Accelerating Clinical Trials for Parkinson's Disease (EJS ACT-PD) trial, launched in the UK, led by University College London and Newcastle University, with up to 1,600 participants, sets the world record for the World’s largest clinical trial for Parkinson’s, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

Photos: Facebook/Cure Parkinson's

"The world’s largest-ever clinical trial of treatments to slow or stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease has launched, led by researchers at University College London and Newcastle University," the Van Andel Institute says.

"The £26 million ($34.8 million USD) project is accelerating the search for effective treatments with an innovative, flexible trial design testing multiple treatments in parallel. By evaluating more drugs more efficiently than ever before, the trial could take up to three years off the time needed to test a drug candidate.

"The trial team is recruiting up to 1,600 participants in its first phase from more than 40 hospitals across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The trial is now underway, as participants are already being recruited at the London (University College London Hospital) and Newcastle (Clinical Aging Research Unit) sites, with the other trial sites getting up and running between now and April 2026. People with Parkinson’s can register their interest in participating using a simple online form."

"The world's largest clinical trial for Parkinson's is the Edmond J. Safra Accelerating Clinical Trials for Parkinson's Disease (EJS ACT-PD) trial, launched in the UK in October 2025.

"Led by University College London and Newcastle University, it aims to find treatments that can slow or stop disease progression by testing multiple drugs simultaneously. With up to 1,600 participants, the innovative, flexible trial design could accelerate the discovery of new treatments." (AI Overview)

Trial name: Edmond J. Safra Accelerating Clinical Trials for Parkinson's Disease (EJS ACT-PD)
Objective: To test multiple drugs in parallel to identify treatments that can slow or stop the progression of Parkinson's disease.
Participants: Up to 1,600 people with Parkinson's disease.
Location: Over 40 hospitals across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Design: A multi-arm, multi-stage (MAMS) trial platform that allows for efficient testing of several drugs at once against a shared placebo group.
Initial drugs: The trial will begin by testing two repurposed drugs: telmisartan, a blood pressure medication, and terazosin, a drug for an enlarged prostate.
Funding: The trial is funded by a partnership between the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with support from various charities and institutions.

"The world’s largest-ever clinical trial of treatments to slow or stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease has launched, led by researchers at UCL and Newcastle University," the University College London says.

"The £26 million project is accelerating the search for effective treatments with an innovative, flexible trial design testing multiple treatments in parallel. By testing more drugs more efficiently than ever before, the trial could take up to three years off the time needed to test a drug candidate.

"The trial team is recruiting up to 1,600 participants in its first phase from more than 40 hospitals across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The trial is now underway, as participants are already being recruited at the London (UCLH) and Newcastle (Clinical Ageing Research Unit) sites, with the other trial sites to get underway between now and next April. People with Parkinson’s can register their interest in participating using a simple online form."

"Parkinson’s disease is one of the world’s fastest growing neurological conditions, with 166,000 people affected in the UK today.

"Parkinson’s gets progressively worse and although there are treatments that can help with symptoms, these become less effective over time, so there is an urgent need to find treatments that can slow or stop the disease progression.

"The Edmond J Safra Accelerating Clinical Trials in Parkinson’s Disease (EJS ACT-PD) trial is sponsored by UCL and funded by a Medical Research Council (MRC) and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) partnership, Cure Parkinson’s, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, Parkinson’s UK, The John Black Charitable Foundation, The Gatsby Charitable Foundation and Van Andel Institute," the University College London says.

"The new EJS ACT-PD trial is using a multi-arm, multi-stage design, enabling several treatments to be tested at the same time, in comparison to a single group of participants taking a placebo, a method which has not been used before for Parkinson’s. Initially, the trial will be testing two drugs known to be safe and effective at treating other conditions: a blood pressure medication and a drug used to treat an enlarged prostate," the University College London says.

"By analysing results on an ongoing basis, ineffective treatments can be identified and dropped from the trial, with more promising drugs progressing. The design’s flexibility also allows new treatment arms to be introduced within the same trial infrastructure.

"The current standard clinical trials process is hugely time and resource consuming and stop-start in nature, taking up to 10 years for a single potential treatment to complete assessment. Compared to running individual trials for each treatment, the structure of the EJS ACT-PD trial can accelerate the assessment process by close to 25% (or up to three years)."

"The Edmond J. Safra Accelerating Clinical Trials for Parkinson’s Disease (EJS ACT-PD) platform aims to transform the way Parkinson’s clinical trials are conducted in the UK," the Cure Parkinson's says.

"As a multi-arm, multi-stage (MAMS) trial platform, EJS ACT-PD will evaluate several potentially disease-modifying treatments in parallel against a shared placebo (dummy drug) group, accelerating the search for effective treatments by testing more drugs faster and more efficiently than ever before.

"A multi-arm, multi-stage (MAMS) platform is a clinical trial model that involves testing multiple treatment groups against one placebo. This allows several drugs to be tested in the time it would usually take to test one. This accelerates the progression of therapies through the drug development pipeline. MAMS platforms are also adaptive, allowing new treatments to be added or swapped in as others conclude or do not show positive findings during interim evaluations."

Why is EJS ACT-PD a game-changer?

"Led by Professor Tom Foltynie from University College London and Professor Camille Carroll from Newcastle University, EJS ACT-PD represents the first MAMS platform for Parkinson’s in the UK," the Cure Parkinson's says.

"This programme is a £26 million investment in Parkinson’s. Initially, it will test two potentially disease-modifying therapies – telmisartan and terazosin – against a shared placebo (dummy drug) group. In 2026, the team will introduce a third treatment arm with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). All three drugs are repurposed from other medical conditions and were previously evaluated by our International Linked Clinical Trials (iLCT) committee – a group of Parkinson’s experts who meet annually to rank and prioritise promising therapies for clinical trial."

"The world’s largest clinical trial targeting Parkinson’s disease progression has officially launched across the UK. The £26 million Edmond J Safra Accelerating Clinical Trials in Parkinson’s Disease (EJS ACT-PD) trial, led by University College London (UCL) and Newcastle University, aims to identify treatments that can slow or stop the disease’s progression.

"With over 1,600 participants enrolled across more than 40 hospitals, the trial employs an innovative, flexible design to test multiple treatments in parallel, potentially reducing the time needed to evaluate new drug candidates.

"Parkinson’s disease is one of the world’s fastest-growing neurological conditions. Around 166,000 people in the UK live with the disease, which progressively worsens over time. Current treatments for symptoms become less effective over prolonged periods, making it vital to find therapies that can slow or halt disease progression," the Open Access Government says.