- Phase 3 ARISE trial met its primary endpoint, reducing the time patients spend with debilitating motor symptoms when their current medication has worn off (daily OFF time), while significantly improving multiple functional measures that have a meaningful impact on patient quality of life
- SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund is Cerevance’s largest shareholder
- Cerevance plans FDA discussions on a potential New Drug Application
LONDON, BOSTON, 7 October 2026 – The Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), managed by SV Health Investors (“SV”) and the largest shareholder in Cerevance, today welcomed positive topline results from the company’s pivotal Phase 3 ARISE trial of once-daily oral solengepras as an adjunctive treatment for people with Parkinson’s disease experiencing motor fluctuations.
DDF has backed Cerevance since inception, co-leading the Series A and maintaining an active board seat which is currently held by Laurence Barker currently held by Laurence Barker, Partner, and Georgia Frost, Vice President, at SV Health Investors, as board observer.
Laurence Barker, Partner at SV Health Investors and a member of the Cerevance Board representing the Dementia Discovery Fund, said:
“DDF has backed Cerevance since its early stages, attracted by its differentiated approach to identifying novel targets to treat neurodegenerative disease.
“After supporting the company and its unique technology since inception, we are thrilled to see that the early scientific discovery of GPR6 has now translated to benefit across daily function, alertness, and quality of life measures that will have meaningful impact for Parkinson’s patients”
Cerevance was built around a proprietary NETSseq platform, developed at Rockefeller University, which profiles gene expression in specific human brain cell types to identify highly selective drug targets. This approach identified GPR6, a receptor uniquely enriched in the striatal neurons disrupted in Parkinson's disease, enabling the development of solengepras as a first-in-class, non-dopaminergic treatment with exquisite selectively for the cells impacted in disease and resultant potential to address the full range of Parkinson’s symptoms.
CLINICAL RESULTS
Solengepras 150 mg met the trial’s primary endpoint, reducing average daily OFF time by 0.61 hours versus placebo at Week 12 (p=0.0350), an effect comparable to existing dopaminergic drugs while being more tolerable for patients (no serious adverse events were reported with solengepras 150 mg. Discontinuations due to adverse events of 3.5% across all treatment arms, including placebo).
The benefits of solengepras's non-dopaminergic mechanism extend beyond reducing OFF time. Patients also experienced statistically significant improvements in motor function during daily activities, ON time without troublesome dyskinesia, daytime sleepiness, and overall quality of life, collectively demonstrating a breadth of clinical benefit.
Dame Kate Bingham, Managing Partner at SV Health Investors, said:
“Cerevance has opened up an entirely novel drug class beyond the dopamine pathway which has been the basis of Parkinson’s treatment for decades.”
“This is exactly why DDF was established: to follow new biology, identify different targets and potentially open up new classes of medicines.”
The data were presented by Dr Robert A. Hauser and Karl Kieburtz, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Medical Officer of Cerevance, during the 2026 International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders in Seoul, Korea.
For more information, please contact
Kate.vanbeek@svhealthinvestors.com / 07525 095232
Or see https://svhealthinvestors.com/...;
About Solengepras
Solengepras, an investigational therapy, is designed to provide a potentially novel approach to treating Parkinson's disease. Unlike dopaminergic therapies, which act primarily by replenishing, enhancing, or mimicking dopamine, solengepras selectively targets the indirect pathway by inhibiting the GPR6 receptor.
This mechanism is designed to help restore balance between the direct and indirect basal ganglia pathways, with the potential to improve motor and non-motor function without directly altering dopamine levels or signaling. As a cell type-specific approach, solengepras represents a potential new class of medicine designed to avoid the adverse effects associated with off-target activity of other CNS drugs.
About Cerevance
Cerevance is focused on advancing cell type-specific therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Its most advanced investigational treatment, solengepras, is a once-daily, oral, non-dopaminergic therapy that has completed a pivotal Phase 3 evaluation as an adjunctive treatment for Parkinson's disease. If approved, solengepras would be the first GPR6 inhibitor available for Parkinson's disease.
About SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund
SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) is the world’s largest family of specialized venture capital funds that invests exclusively in companies developing or enabling novel therapeutics for dementia. Dementias including Alzheimer’s Disease are arguably the largest unmet medical need with over 55m patients worldwide. With more than $600m raised for this strategy, and offices in London and Boston, DDF capitalizes on global investment opportunities to fulfill its dual mandate of delivering measurable impact and generating significant financial returns. Utilizing its network of venture partners, entrepreneurs, leading scientists, and strategic partners, DDF invests in and creates new biotech companies and provides thought leadership in the field. DDF is enabled by its cornerstone investors AARP, British Business Bank and Gates Frontier, as well as additional limited partners, including major pharmaceutical companies. For more information, please visit https://svhealthinvestors.com/ddf/
