An experienced investor and life science entrepreneur, Brian Frenzel is currently the president and chief executive officer of Tosk, Inc., a clinical stage pharmaceutical discovery and development company. Brian Frenzel also serves as a senior advisor and former member of the board at SanBio, Ltd., a clinical stage cell therapy company developing new drugs for neurogenerative conditions such as cerebral stroke, traumatic brain injury, and Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder that affects the neurons in a small portion of the brain known as the substantia nigra. These neurons produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for motor control and other important bodily functions. Parkinson’s disease progresses slowly. Symptoms typically worsen over years, gradually causing uncontrollable and unpredictable body movements, tremors, and muscular stiffness. In the late stages of the condition, patients may have trouble performing daily tasks such as walking or dressing. Since it is a brain disorder, Parkinson’s also affects patients’ mental states and can result in behavioral changes, dementia, and depression. Despite decades of research, no therapy has been discovered that fully reverses or slows the progression of the disease. Medications are available to relieve some Parkinson’s symptoms and make life easier for patients. For example, carbidopa-levodopa is a drug combination that both promotes the production and slows the reuptake of dopamine in the brain, easing some of the locomotor dysfunction caused by Parkinson’s disease.
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AuthorAt Genelabs Technologies in the 1980’s, Brian Frenzel served on the front lines in the war on HIV/AIDS and championed projects to identify and diagnose new hepatitis viruses. Archives
June 2020
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