Category Archives: Parkinson’s Treatment

TURKU, FINLAND--(Marketwire -07/05/12)- Biotie today announced that enrollment is complete in its Phase 2b trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of tozadenant in Parkinson's disease ("PD"). Biotie now expects the top-line data from this study to be available at around the end of 2012, previous guidance was H1 2013. The 12 week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-finding study, being conducted in the US, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Ukraine and Romania, enrolled 420 PD patients experiencing levodopa related end of dose wearing off. In these patients, treatment with levodopa is insufficient to control PD symptoms until their next dose, resulting in an 'off' period when symptoms reappear. The primary goal of the Phase 2b study is to determine the efficacy of tozadenant in reducing the mean number of hours per day spent in the 'off' state. The trial will also assess the safety of tozadenant and its impact on various measures of motor symptom severity, dyskinesia and non-motor symptoms. "Thanks to the dedication of our investigators and staff, recruitment in this large study has been completed earlier than anticipated." said Timo Veromaa, President and CEO of Biotie. "We look forward to finalizing the study and evaluating the potential of tozadenant as a treatment for … Continue reading →

Public release date: 4-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Daniel Stimson, NINDS nindspressteam@ninds.nih.gov 301-496-5751 NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Researchers have taken a step toward personalized medicine for Parkinson's disease, by investigating signs of the disease in patient-derived cells and testing how the cells respond to drug treatments. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The researchers collected skin cells from patients with genetically inherited forms of Parkinson's and reprogrammed those cells into neurons. They found that neurons derived from individuals with distinct types of Parkinson's showed common signs of distress and vulnerability in particular, abnormalities in the cellular energy factories known as mitochondria. At the same time, the cells' responses to different treatments depended on the type of Parkinson's each patient had. The results were published in Science Translational Medicine. "These findings suggest new opportunities for clinical trials of Parkinson's disease, in which cell reprogramming technology could be used to identify the patients most likely to respond to a particular intervention," said Margaret Sutherland, Ph.D., a program director at NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). A consortium of researchers conducted the study with primary funding from NINDS. The consortium … Continue reading →

NEW YORK (WABC) -- About 1 million people are living with Parkinson's disease in the U.S. and 69-year-old Bob Van Housen is one of them. He's always been active and has never been one to slow down, but Parkinson's has forced him to. Now, Bob is part of a new study, trying a unique treatment for Parkinson's and he's taken to it - hook, line and sinker. Twelve years ago, Bob was diagnosed with the disease and as it progressed his symptoms did too. Bob and his wife Carole even stopped traveling because of the disease. To relieve symptoms Bob would take a pill called Levadopa every few hours just to be able walk and talk. "Very suddenly, the medicine would stop handling the symptoms," Carole Van Housen said. About a year ago Bob enrolled in a trial at Cleveland Clinic to test a new, more consistent way to deliver a gel form of the same medication he was already using. "A tube is inserted in the stomach, but the tube ends in the small intestines where the medications, and also our food, nutrients are absorbed, anyways so the Levadopa liquid gel is pumped continuously from an outside source," Dr. … Continue reading →

PHOENIX, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix has received a $3 million donation from Celebrity Fight Night that will be used to help dramatically expand the renowned facility and its programs. Dozens of doctors, patients and staff applauded as Abraham Lieberman, MD, the center's director, personally received the donation recently from Jimmy Walker, founder of Celebrity Fight Night. Since the annual charity event began 18 years ago, it has contributed more than $22 million to the Center. Today's gift was the single largest ever received by the Ali center. Dr. Lieberman said the funds would be used to more than double the current size of the facility. The expansion will include new clinical areas, physical and speech therapy areas and community education meeting rooms. The current Ali center was opened in December 2010 on the campus of Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital. It is one of the most comprehensive Parkinson's treatment centers in the world, coordinating patient care, physical therapy, pharmaceutical and surgical care, research, and patient education and outreach. The Center has been designated a Center of Excellence by the National Parkinson Foundation. At … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (June 29, 2012) A recent study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) revealed that the FOXO1 gene may play an important role in the pathological mechanisms of Parkinson's disease. These findings are published online in PLoS Genetics, a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science. The study was led by Alexandra Dumitriu, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the department of neurology at BUSM. Richard Myers, PhD, professor of neurology at BUSM, is the study's senior author. According to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease each year and approximately one million Americans are currently living with the disease. Parkinson's disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a buildup of proteins in nerve cells that lead to their inability to communicate with one another, causing motor function issues, including tremors and slowness in movement, as well as dementia. The substantia nigra is an area of the midbrain that helps control movement, and previous research has shown that this area of the brain loses neurons as Parkinson's disease progresses. The researchers analyzed gene expression differences in brain tissue between 27 samples with known Parkinson's disease and 26 samples from … Continue reading →

June 28, 2012 WASHINGTON, DC Patients with Parkinsons disease who undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS) a treatment in which a pacemaker-like device sends pulses to electrodes implanted in the brain can expect stable improvement in muscle symptoms for at least three years, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study appearing in the most recent issue of the journal Neurology. VA was proud to partner with the National Institutes of Health in this research, said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. Our research on Parkinsons helps ensure we continue to provide the best care possible for veterans with this debilitating disease. VA cares for approximately 40,000 veterans with the condition. In DBS, surgeons implant electrodes in the brain and run thin wires under the skin to a pacemaker-like device placed at one of two locations in the brain. Electrical pulses from the battery-operated device jam the brain signals that cause muscle-related symptoms. Thousands of Americans have seen successful results from the procedure since it was first introduced in the late 1990s. But questions have remained about which stimulation site in the brain yields better outcomes, and over how many years the gains persist. Initial results from the study appeared … Continue reading →

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/lb6wfj/handbook_of_parkin) has announced the addition of the "Handbook of Parkinson's Disease" book to their offering. This blue-ribbon guide has long prevailed as one of the leading resources on Parkinson's Disease (PD). Fully updated with practical and engaging chapters on pathology, neurochemistry, etiology, and breakthrough research, this source spans every essential topic related to the identification, assessment, and treatment of PD. Reflecting the many advances that have taken place in the management of PD, this source promotes a multidisciplinary approach to care and supplies new sections on the latest pharmacologic, surgical, and rehabilitative therapies, as well as essential diagnostic, imaging, and nonmotor management strategies for PD. Key Topics Covered: Early Iconography of Parkinson's Disease Epidemiology of Parkinsonism Differential Diagnosis of Parkinsonism Pathophysiology and Clinical Assessment of Parkinsonian Symptoms and Signs Autonomic Dysfunction and Management Sleep Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease Continue reading here: Research and Markets: Handbook of Parkinson's Disease - Blue-Ribbon Guide … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2012) An international team including scientists from the University of Saskatchewan-Saskatoon Health Region and University of British Columbia, with the help of Saskatchewan Mennonite families, has identified an abnormal gene which leads to Parkinson's disease. "This discovery paves the way for further research to determine the nature of brain abnormalities which this gene defect produces," says Dr. Ali Rajput, a world expert in Parkinson's disease who has been studying the disease for 45 years and working with the main family in the study since 1983. "It also promises to help us find ways to detect Parkinson's disease early, and to develop drugs which will one day halt the progression of the disease." The abnormal gene is a mutated version of a gene called DNAJC13, identified by UBC medical genetics professor Matthew Farrer, who led the study. Thirteen of 57 members of one extended Saskatchewan family in the study had been previously diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Three other single cases from Saskatchewan and one family from British Columbia were also found to have the same mutation. All were of Mennonite background, a Christian group who share Dutch-German-Russian ancestry. The findings were presented last week to the more than … Continue reading →

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- KineMed, Inc. (www.kinemed.com) announced today a further award of $1.2 Million from The Michael J. Fox Foundation towards the ongoing development of kinetic biomarkers that drug developers can use to accelerate and reduce the cost of trials of treatments for Parkinsons disease (PD). The lack of validated biomarkers for Parkinsons disease is a major hurdle to PD drug development today and so, our Foundation is invested in this critical research, said Mark Frasier, Ph.D., Vice President, Research Programs for The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research. KineMeds cross-sectional study will look to confirm existing data that we have funded, which has identified biomarkers that are sensitive to subtle changes early in the disease process. We are proud to be extending our work with The Michael J. Fox Foundation and thank the Foundation for this ongoing commitment which recognizes that the development of better biomarkers plays a key role in accelerating progress towards a cure for Parkinsons disease, said Dr. Patrizia Fanara, Ph.D., Vice President of Neuroscience, KineMed, The current difficulty in advancing a cure is the pharmaceutical industrys challenge to appraise the myriad proposed treatment strategies in concise, cost-effective trials. Our cerebrospinal fluid kinetic biomarkers measure … Continue reading →

LOUIVILLE University of Louisville researchers hoping to find a cure for Parkinsons disease have discovered an unlikely potential treatment -- stem cells from the human nose. Videos from a laboratory at Louisville reveal the promise: One shows a rat with a brain damaged to mimic Parkinsons continually circling the bottom of a bowl in one direction, unable to do anything else. Another shows a similar rat injected with nasal stem cells moving normally and trying to climb out. The research -- which uses an adult patients own cells -- is outlined in this months issue of the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine. I think it would be wonderful to have thought of something that could help people. Thats what Im in this for, said Louisville neuroscientist Fred Roisen, chief science officer and co-founder of a company based on the technology called RhinoCyte. Parkinsons -- which afflicts about a million Americans, including Louisville-born boxing legend Muhammad Ali -- is a progressive neurological disorder that mostly strikes people over 50, causing tremors, slow movement and other problems. It occurs when nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine, a chemical that helps control muscle movement, are slowly destroyed. It is a terrible … Continue reading →