# World's first approved Parkinson's stem-cell transplant performed in Japan

> A patient at Kyoto University Hospital has received iPS cell therapy for Parkinson's, the first such operation since Japanese regulators gave the treatment conditional approval.

- Published: 2026-10-31 by Tickety-Boo News
- Section: Health
- Location: Japan
- Web page: https://ticketyboonews.co.uk/stories/worlds-first-approved-parkinsons-stem-cell-transplant-performed-in/
- Original report: [First patient undergoes pioneering stem-cell treatment for Parkinson's](https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-patient-stem-cell-treatment-parkinson.html) (Medical Xpress)

## In brief

- A patient at Kyoto University Hospital received iPS stem-cell therapy for Parkinson's in October, a world first after approval.
- Japan gave conditional approval in March after a trial of seven patients; four saw symptoms improve.
- Sumitomo Pharma aims to treat 20 to 30 people by March 2029 and is running a US trial.

A patient in Japan has become the first person anywhere to receive an officially approved stem-cell treatment for Parkinson's disease. The drugmaker behind it, Sumitomo Pharma, revealed the news on Friday in its earnings press release.

The operation took place at Kyoto University Hospital in October. The company gave no further details about the procedure or the patient.

The therapy relies on induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are made by persuading mature, specialised cells to revert to a youthful state, so that they can become almost any type of cell in the body. Here, cells from healthy donors are turned into early-stage forerunners of dopamine-producing brain cells, which people with Parkinson's no longer have. Millions of them are then implanted in the brain.

Japanese regulators granted conditional approval in March, after a clinical trial. Its seven participants, aged between 50 and 69, were given either five million or ten million cells in each hemisphere of the brain, and were followed for two years. No major adverse effects emerged, and four of the seven saw their symptoms improve.

Sumitomo Pharma aims to treat between 20 and 30 people by March 2029, and it is also running a trial in the United States. According to local media, the therapy will earn full approval in Japan if it proves safe and effective over the next seven years.

The announcement comes a month after another Japanese first. A hospital in Osaka carried out the world's first operation using sheets of iPS-derived heart muscle cells, designed to help the heart recover. That treatment also received conditional approval in March.

## Why it matters

Parkinson's is a chronic, degenerative disorder that affects movement, and the Parkinson's Foundation estimates that more than 10 million people live with it worldwide. It says current therapies ease symptoms without slowing or halting the disease. A treatment that aims to replace the lost brain cells is a different approach altogether, and rather good news for the field. It is early days, though, and with approval still conditional, the next few years of evidence will show how well it works for a wider group of patients.