Charco Neurotech is Walk for Parkinson’s 2024 sponsor

Charco Neurotech, a leader in therapeutic innovations for Parkinson’s, has been unveiled as the sponsor of Parkinson’s UK’s Walk for Parkinson’s 2024 fundraising series.

Around 153,000 people in the UK are living with Parkinson’s, a condition with more than 40 symptoms that extend beyond the well-known tremors to include severe muscle spasms, anxiety and depression.

Parkinson’s UK has been providing support and spearheading research aimed at finding a cure. Since starting Walk for Parkinson’s in 2015, 30,000 participants across the UK have joined the movement to raise awareness and funds and an additional 1,600 supporters have engaged virtually since the pandemic.

This year’s series of walks will take place at the 15 locations across the UK between June and October, starting at Chatelherault Country Park in Hamilton on 2 June and concluding at Belfast’s Titanic Museum on 20 October. In between the walks will include Bristol, Reading, London, Leeds and Cardiff.

Charco Neurotech is named after Professor Jean-Martin Charcot, who was a 19th century French neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He was the first to notice the therapeutic effects of vibratory stimulation on Parkinson’s symptoms. Since his discovery, there have been many studies around the ability of stimulation to alleviate the movement symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Based at Wellington House on East Road, Charco Neurotech –founded in 2019 – is a group of design engineers and doctors developing the CUE1 device, with and for people with Parkinson’s, to improve their quality of life.

CUE1 is a slim device worn anywhere on the body for effective relief of symptoms. It utilises pulsed cueing and high-frequency focused vibrotactile stimulation to alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms including slowness, stiffness, rigidity, freezing of gait, and more.

With more than 3,000 people using the CUE device day to day, pilot tests have seen users with Parkinson’s improve their MDS-UPDRS scores – which evaluate various aspects of Parkinson’s disease including non-motor and motor experiences – by an average of 7.8 points, which is considered clinically significant.

A spokesperson said Charco Neurotech is “proud to be supporting this year’s series of walks, reinforcing the importance of community activities that promote movement and engagement for those living with Parkinson’s and all who support them”.

Paul Jackson-Clark, director of fundraising & experience at Parkinson’s UK, said: “We are delighted to have Charco Neurotech as our sponsor this year.

“Walk for Parkinson’s is crucial not only for fundraising but also for bringing our community together. There’s no cure for Parkinson’s – yet.

“But if we walk together, we can make a difference to the lives of people with Parkinson’s. We can make breakthroughs. We can find a cure.”

Lucy Jung, CEO of Charco Neurotech, said: “We are proud to partner with Parkinson’s UK.

“This sponsorship allows us to connect directly with the community we support and to share our commitment to bring smiles back for people with Parkinson’s and their loved ones. Together, we aim to make a tangible impact through innovation and solidarity.”