Eli Lilly has formed an early-stage, drug-device collaboration with the world’s largest medical device maker, Medtronic, to research and develop a Parkinson’s disease treatment using Lilly’s modified form of glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and Medtronic’s implantable drug infusion device. Previous attempts to deliver GDNF effectively across the blood-brain barrier have been unsuccessful and the companies will hope to overcome the technical challenges presented by this novel approach to the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.