An anti-α-synuclein drug, or an α-synuclein inhibitor, is a drug which blocks or inhibits α-synuclein.
[1][2] α-Synuclein is a protein which is thought to be involved in the development and progression of α-synucleinopathies including Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and multiple system atrophy.
[1][2] Examples include the monoclonal antibodies prasinezumab and cinpanemab, which both failed to show effectiveness in slowing the progression of Parkinson's disease in phase 2 clinical trials.
[1] Other anti-α-synuclein drugs, like the monoclonal antibody exidavnemab, the α-synuclein vaccines PD01A and PD03A, and the small-molecule α-synuclein misfolding and aggregation inhibitors minzasolmin and emrusolmin, are also under development.
[1][3][2][4] Memantine is also being studied as a potential disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson's disease by inhibiting cell-to-cell transmission of α-synuclein and is in a phase 3 trial for this purpose.