Heuron Collaborates on Clinical Research for Parkinson’s Disease Gene Therapy

Jan. 2026

Heuron announced on the 6th that it has entered into a Project Commencement Agreement with Dr. Park CDMO, which is developing an AAV-based gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease, and has officially initiated a joint research collaboration.

The collaboration aims to advance a next-generation AAV-based gene therapy clinical program for Parkinson’s disease. Under the agreement, Heuron will serve as the biomarker CRO, leveraging its imaging-based biomarker technologies for patient stratification, treatment response assessment, and clinical data analysis. Dr. Park CDMO will lead the development of the AAV-based gene therapy, including non-clinical and clinical development.


The project is based on a therapeutic strategy that combines GDNF, which promotes survival and functional recovery of dopaminergic neurons, with GBA1, which addresses lysosomal dysfunction—a key pathological mechanism in Parkinson’s disease. Heuron will support the establishment and operation of imaging, quantitative, and digital biomarker strategies throughout the clinical development process, including Phase 1/2 trials.


In addition, the collaboration has been structured to align clinical development strategies under the leadership of Donghoon Shin, CEO of Heuron, while jointly reviewing CMC and manufacturing strategies in conjunction with Dr. Park CDMO’s 5,000-liter-scale AAV viral vector CDMO infrastructure.


Heuron will act as a key partner responsible for biomarker strategy in Parkinson’s disease gene therapy clinical development, contributing to higher probabilities of clinical success and faster data-driven decision-making,” said Donghoon Shin, CEO of Heuron. “This collaboration represents an important starting point for the expansion of our biomarker CRO business.


A representative from Dr. Park CDMO stated, “Robust CMC strategies and scalable manufacturing capabilities are essential for advanced therapy development. We will actively collaborate to progressively enhance manufacturing, analytical, and quality systems in line with the project’s requirements.


Through this collaboration, Heuron plans to expand beyond its existing medical imaging AI solutions and advance into an imaging biomarker–based CRO and clinical platform business that supports the development of therapeutics for neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.

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