Via HHMI News, a fairly detailed look at progress towards better therapies for Parkinson's disease: "researchers have pinpointed defects in a critical cellular pathway that can lead to the death of dopamine-producing nerve cells and ultimately symptoms of Parkinson's disease. They have also used several animal models of the disease to identify a new way to rescue dying neurons. ... the findings give important clues to why dopamine-producing neurons in the brain are the most vulnerable neurons ... We have found compounds that reverse [this cause of damage], and we plan to publish those results soon ... [researchers] have not by any means proven that this mechanism of pathology or the compounds that affect it are relevant to humans. However, given the fact that we've found the same results in yeast, flies, worms and rat neurons, I would be very surprised if we didn't find that they were relevant in humans."

Link: http://www.hhmi.org/news/lindquist20060622.html