Dr. Wright and Broccoli Seed Tea
The story of Resolve Parkinson’s begins with one of our founding members, Dr. Albert Wright. Dr. Wright was a retired chemist and physicist, and a graduate of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, London. He was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Bristol before taking up a postdoctoral research post at the University of Oxford where he studied neutron scattering. For most of his career, Dr. Wright worked at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France, which is the world’s leading institution for neutron science and technology.
Dr. Wright had a love of science that was driven by his passion for solving problems that other people found difficult.
When Dr. Wright was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2018, he refused to accept that “nothing can be done” to resolve his Parkinson’s diagnosis. Instead, he focused his scientific curiosity on understanding the mechanisms driving Parkinson’s. He spent several years scouring the scientific literature to understand the science underlying his non-motor Parkinson’s symptoms.
After much experimentation, Dr. Wright identified a substance in broccoli seeds called glucoraphanin that he thought had promise for his non-motor symptoms. He developed a therapy consisting of highly concentrated broccoli seed tea brewed using a process of his own invention (BST), and began *N=1 experiments on himself with positive results. The novel therapy effectively stabilized his non-motor symptoms.
Dr. Wright then invited a group of people with Parkinson’s to test the BST therapy more widely. Among the volunteers were the individuals who would become the founders of Resolve Parkinson’s, none of whom had ever met before.
Other patients joined Dr. Wright, and he summarized his initial findings, which showed the positive impact of BST on non-motor symptoms. Dr. Wright then approached both the Michael J. Fox Foundation and Cure Parkinson’s Trust to gain support to pursue further testing, and was turned down by both. However, his work began to be recognized within the Parkinson’s patient community, and many more patients stepped forward to support Dr. Wright’s efforts to help ameliorate the impact of Parkinson’s.
A plan was devised to create a direct source of BST therapy for users as an independent club structure based on a member contract, much like those used by athletic clubs in the EU and U.S. Members could undertake N=1 experiments and continue treating themselves, if effective, by sourcing the necessary brewing equipment and broccoli seeds through the club.
* N=1 research: N refers to the number of unique participants in a particular study. N=1 refers to instances in which the researcher uses him or herself as the sole participant in the study.
Resolve Parkinson's is Formed
At this time, the core group of members, along with Dr. Wright, coalesced to create Resolve Parkinson’s with the mission to promote research and testing of BST therapy, and to engage the scientific, health research, and medical communities to collaborate with Persons with Parkinson’s and one another to shift both perception and practice so that Parkinson’s is defined as a multisystemic syndrome rather than a movement disorder limited to brain neurology.
Resolve Parkinson’s believes this re-prioritization of non-motor symptoms is critical to both understanding how Parkinson’s evolves and early intervention to slow or halt disease progression. Achievement of this purpose would require patient-led research and educational initiatives that would reach the global community of thousands of medical personnel and over eleven million patients. In 2023, Resolve Parkinson’s was awarded 501(c)(3) status as a public charitable organization.
Rejection Fuels a New Mission
In the summer of 2023, Resolve Parkinson’s participated in a proposal submitted by Purdue University to the U.S. Department of Defense which entailed the use of BST as a treatment for military members and families who had contracted Parkinson’s disease from the environmental contamination at Camp Lejeune. The Department of Defense rejected Purdue’s proposal.
Resolve Parkinson’s then explored how they might privately finance BST trials, but realized they lacked the competencies and connections to raise the millions of dollars required to bring just one treatment through 10 to 15 years of drug trials.
It was then that Resolve Parkinson’s board members realized they needed to reframe the organization’s mission.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation, Cure Parkinson’s Trust, and Department of Defense rejections showed them firsthand the entrenched resistance from public and private research institutions to investigate and test novel therapies based on patient lived experience, and developed by independent (patient) scientists who aren’t sponsored by a profit-driven mainstream pharmaceutical industry.
Resolve Parkinson’s mission evolved to focus on prioritizing the patient voice and lived experience in research and care, to redefine the definition of Parkinson’s Disease, and improve the entire Parkinson’s system of care, with its multitude of interrelated, and complex problems.
Prologue
For Dr. Wright, the most difficult problem with Parkinson’s was not the complexity of the disease, but the denial of existing knowledge of Parkinson’s to protect vested interests. Of his experience as a patient and scientist, he expressed frustration and hope:
"If I could achieve that result in such a short time for negligible cost, ask yourself why billions of dollars have been spent without at least achieving a comparable result?... In collaboration with Resolve Parkinson's, I would hope that 2025 becomes the year when we start to demand that existing knowledge gets transformed into better care and well-being for People with Parkinson's. That would be my first goal. It may sound modest, but it would be totally disruptive."
Dr. Wright’s dedication to Resolve Parkinson’s stemmed from his desire to stop the progression of Parkinson’s by targeting the steps that cause non-motor symptoms. He generously shared his knowledge and experience with other scientists whose values and interests aligned with Resolve Parkinson’s. Before he died, Dr. Wright was working to make BST therapy available to as many Parkinson’s patients as possible.
Dr. Wright passed away in January 2025. Resolve Parkinson’s remains dedicated to continuing its advocacy in honor of his legacy.
