Dr. Guillaume Brachet is an exceptionally busy entrepreneur: in addition to running his own company, he is frequently invited for interviews on television and radio and is a sought-after speaker at scientific conferences. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with Guillaume Brachet about his book and, more broadly, about life with Parkinson’s disease.
InnoMedica: Dear Dr. Brachet, you are the author of a highly inspiring book „Parkinson à 30 ans“. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Guillaume Brachet: I primarily wrote this book for fellow patients. When you receive a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, the initial feeling is often one of despair—that nothing is truly changing. There are treatments to manage the symptoms, but not to address the underlying causes of the disease. I reviewed over 500 scientific publications on Parkinson’s and wanted to share my insights—to show readers where I’m coming from and why my perspective is relevant to patients. And I wanted to highlight that there are real reasons for hope—hope for a cure within, say, the coming decade..
What kind of reactions have you received to your book?
I have received many phone calls, emails, and letters thanking me for the book. I had very meaningful interactions with many people who told me that the book gave them hope and brought back their smile. So I believe that regardless of how many people read it, the book has already fulfilled its purpose.
Writing a book like this takes considerable time. How did the writing process change your way of thinking?
At first, I didn’t feel anything at all. But then my life began to change: I had to stop one of the symptomatic medications because I was simply working too much, and because there was a potential direct addictive link associated with the therapy. I also experienced some family-related challenges. The book helped me come to terms with the disease I was diagnosed with. My condition is now public—no longer a secret. Knowing that my book is publicly accessible—in libraries and elsewhere—has helped me cope with my own disability.
InnoMedica: In your book, you describe rowing upstream on the Loire River to raise funds for the launch of your company. You had a lot of time to think while on the river—what were you thinking about?
I truly became one with the river. Stroke by stroke, I moved closer to my goal, whether in sunshine or rain. And I had time to reflect on how the project might evolve—what were the chances that the experiments we were planning would succeed? At the same time, I was trying to engage with the media. So it was work—but the time on the water was also a time for thinking, for breathing, and for rowing. Overall, it was an incredibly valuable period to reconnect with myself.
Did your time on the river also help you come to terms with your illness?
Yes—not only to accept it, but also to learn how to live with it. You know, it’s not just about saying, “Okay, I’m disabled.” It’s about finding new ways to do things. I had to relearn how to walk—something I hadn’t truly done properly for over 30 years. When I left the house, I had to hold on to the wall. I had to relearn how to place one foot in front of the other: lift the leg, move the foot forward, set it down, maintain balance. You don’t just accept your limitations—you have to develop strategies to work around them and make movement possible again.
In your book, you emphasize the importance of physical activity. How has exercise specifically helped you?
In my experience, sport is an area where you fail often—and you learn that failure does not have to stop you. You start by accepting that you are a beginner. You learn how to fail. You learn to try again. It is more a mindset than a physical ability.
You yourself are affected by Parkinson’s disease. How has that influenced the way you lead your company and develop medicines?
I only think about speed. That is my sole driving force. Everything revolves around how quickly we move from a hypothesis to its validation. I study every experimental protocol we carry out and discuss it with experts: are we getting the right answers from each experiment, the right information at the right time? And I have found the right people to help me. At the beginning, I didn’t even know which competencies I needed—so I needed people who knew what to look for.
Still, founding a company requires a particular mindset.
That’s true. I see many university spin-offs emerging from research labs. People run their company on the side—literally at the lab bench. It’s like saying: “I’ll put a few hours a week into this, it will work out somehow.” But at some point they realize: it won’t work that way. You have to fully commit. You have to be aware that it’s more than just one job—it’s all jobs in one.
You were diagnosed with Parkinson’s very early. What advice would you give to someone who receives the same diagnosis at your age? Or more generally to anyone living with Parkinson’s disease?
The first thing is: accept that everything takes time—getting dressed takes time, eating takes time. You have to accept that you cannot speed these things up. You won’t be “okay” for a while. And then you start to accept it—and in my case, that took three years.
In our lives, we constantly try to compress time, to make everything faster. But here, there is something that cannot be made faster—in your brain. It is okay not to be okay. You have to take the time to accept things and learn to live with the disease.
Friends also need time. They have to learn to accept that they cannot help me. They feel uncomfortable with my condition, with the way I walk. They feel very sorry for me—which made me sad at first. But now I think: that is their problem. I have accepted my condition, and they had to do the same. It also took them time.
With my start-up, I can search for solutions. It helps me stay active and continue fighting against the disease.
How do you manage to combine leading a start-up with living with Parkinson’s disease?
You have to set priorities. You have to choose your battles. If a meeting is not important, I reschedule it or cancel it.
We are very honored that you took the time for this conversation!
We are fighting the same battle. We share a similar view of Parkinson’s disease. I believe the cure does not lie in “micromanaging” individual genetic variants. It is about identifying the underlying mechanism. I am convinced that the principle that causes Parkinson’s is, in a way, universal to all humans. It is like rust on a car: every car is affected, and eventually the rust leads to a breakdown. Depending on the car’s weak points, the failure looks different. Aging is like rusting.
