Japan’s Sumitomo Pharma performs world’s first stem-cell brain surgery for Parkinson’s disease

A Japanese drugmaker announced on Friday (Oct. 30) that a patient has received a world-first stem-cell therapy for Parkinson's disease. Sumitomo Pharma’s treatment was conditionally approved by Japanese regulators in March following successful clinical trials and the transplant of millions of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which can develop into any cell type, into the patient's brain.

"The first transplant was performed at Kyoto University Hospital in October," the company said in an earnings press release on Friday. It gave no further details.

Affecting over 10 million people worldwide, Parkinson's is a chronic brain disorder that damages motor control and causes tremors. While current drugs only manage symptoms without slowing the disease, Sumitomo Pharma's treatment targets the root cause. By taking mature donor cells and reverting them into versatile iPS cells, scientists can grow new dopamine-producing brain cells to replace those destroyed by the condition.

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The foundation says currently available therapies improve symptoms without slowing or halting the progression of the disease. In Sumitomo Pharma's treatment, iPS cells from healthy donors are developed into precursors of dopamine-producing brain cells, which are no longer present in people with Parkinson's.

In the clinical trial, seven patients aged between 50 and 69 each received implants of either five million or 10 million cells on both sides of the brain. They were monitored for two years. No major adverse effects were found, and four patients showed improvements in symptoms.

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Sumitomo Pharma said on Friday it plans to carry out transplants on 20 to 30 patients by March 2029. The company is also conducting a clinical trial in the United States. According to local media, the treatment will gain full approval in Japan if its safety and efficacy are confirmed over the next seven years.

The announcement comes a month after a hospital in Osaka carried out the world's first surgery using sheets of heart muscle iPS cells that can help form new blood vessels and restore heart function. Japan also gave conditional approval to that therapy in March.