EU project Sympath

The goal of SYMPATH is to advance clinical development of therapeutic vaccines targeting α-Synuclein (α-Syn)-driven neurodegenerative diseases (ND). It addresses Parkinson’s disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA), two synucleinopathies , for which no causal therapy exists. Ultimately, both lead to patient disability and death, which along with patient number (PD) and age of onset (MSA, PD) define their high medical need status.

The SYMPATH project had two major dissemination highlights, namely the public event ‘SYMPATH FAHR-MIT’ and the scientific event ‘SYMPATH Symposium on Targeting Synucleinopathies’.
‘SYMPATH-FAHR-MIT’ took place over seven consecutive days and comprises a bike tour across Austria with Parkinson patients, aimed to engage the public with the EU-funded SYMPATH project and Parkinson’ disease in general. Daily events comprised of a cycling leg followed by a reception event for the cyclists including speeches by local dignitaries and an interactive exhibition. The event was accompanied by extensive media and press work to raise awareness, which successfully generated a significant amount of media coverage, including a number of radio interviews and slots on television. SYMPATH FAHR-MIT was featured on: 64 web sites, 18 paper-based publications, 7 radio slots and 3 TV slots were recorded. 

The SYMPATH Symposium on Targeting Synucleinopathies, which took place on the 28th March 2017, was conceived to bring together world-leading experts to discuss recent progress in developing new potential biomarkers and therapeutic concepts, including vaccines, for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). The symposium was successful in attracting a high-calibre of speaker, which was reflected in attracting 115 attendees, of which 25 were international, including 4 from the USA. In addition to the scientific presentations the symposium also hosted a poster session and an interactive exhibition, which stimulated additional interest in many researchers of the Vienna Biocenter who interacted with the exhibition material.

In summary, SYMPATH was highly successful and met essentially all objectives on schedule. SYMPATH brought together unique expertise and infrastructure with leading experts in clinical PD and MSA research as well as biomarker assay development to achieve world-class collaborative research. The socio-economic impact of this project cannot be overestimated. Independently of the success of the vaccine candidates in the clinical studies, medical practitioners could already benefit from the effective diagnostic methods developed in the short-mid-term.

Text is from the EU Research Results: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/634453/reporting