Attaollah Poorabbasi, secretary of the Cognitive Sciences and Technologies Headquarters of Iran’s Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, told Tasnim News Agency that the initiative is supported in collaboration with the Royan Institute. Researchers at the institute have been developing a cell-therapy approach for Parkinson’s disease, with early results described as “highly satisfactory.”
Poorabbasi emphasized that such treatments cannot be tested directly on humans initially, making animal studies essential. Primates are central to this stage, and the first round of cell injections has already been conducted. If successful, the research could progress to human trials.
While cell therapy is not expected to become a routine treatment in the near term, the findings signal a promising path for managing neurological disorders in Iran. Poorabbasi highlighted the significance of achieving positive outcomes at a domestic laboratory scale, noting that Iran has now demonstrated advanced technical expertise in a field where only a handful of countries, including Japan, the United States, and some European nations, operate primate laboratories.
