NESS ZIONA, Israel, November 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- NeuroDerm, Ltd. announced today that enrollment of healthy subjects is ongoing in its Phase I clinical trial of ND0612, a novel drug formulation for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. ND0612 is a proprietary levodopa/carbidopa liquid formula administered continuously via a subcutaneous delivery patch device.It is designed to provide steady levodopa blood levels and enhanced bioavailability of oral levodopa for the reduction of motor complications in Parkinson's disease. In pre-clinical studies of ND0612, plasma concentrations of levodopa reached straight-line steady state levels. The current Phase I double-blind, dose-escalation trial in young, healthy volunteers will assess ND0612 for safety and tolerability as well as for levodopa and carbidopa steady state plasma levels. "This first trial of ND0612 in man is a significant step in the development of a new levodopa treatment standard for Parkinson's disease," said Oded S. Lieberman, PhD, NeuroDerm's Chairman and CEO. "For many years, oral levodopa has been the leading Parkinson's disease drug therapy. However, due to low and erratic oral levodopa bioavailability, advanced Parkinson's patients suffer from debilitating motor complications even under the best current standard of care. Should ND0612 achieveconstant levodopa base blood levels, than low, harmful levodopa trough … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (Nov. 20, 2012) Health professionals may soon have a new method of diagnosing Parkinson's disease, one that is noninvasive and inexpensive, and, in early testing, has proved to be effective more than 90 percent of the time. In addition, this new method has the potential to track the progression of Parkinson's, as well as measure the effectiveness of treatments for the disorder, said Rahul Shrivastav, professor and chairperson of Michigan State University's Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders and a member of the team developing the new method. It involves monitoring a patient's speech patterns -- specifically, movement patterns of the tongue and jaw. "In Parkinson's disease, a common limitation is that the movements become slow and have a reduced range," said Shrivastav. "We believe we see this pattern in speech too -- the tongue doesn't move as far as it should, doesn't move as quickly as it should and produces subtle changes in speech patterns." This method is particularly sensitive to Parkinson's disease speech and, Shrivastav said, is effective with only two seconds of speech. "That's significant in several ways: The detection methodology is noninvasive, easy to administer, inexpensive and capable of being used remotely and in telemedicine … Continue reading →

BACKGROUND: Parkinsons disease is a disorder in the brain which leads to shaking and difficulty with walking, movement, and coordination. Parkinsons is one of the most common nervous system disorders of the elderly and it most often develops after the age of 50, although it can sometimes occur in younger adults. Parkinsons disease occurs when the nerve cells in the brain that make dopamine are slowly destroyed, and without dopamine the nerve cells in that part of the brain cannot properly send messages leading to the loss of muscle function. Why the brain cells begin to be destroyed is unknown. (Source: http://www.nih.gov) SIGNS/SYMPTOMS: The first symptoms of Parkinsons disease can be hard to diagnose, especially in older patients, and often start out mild and worsen over time. The most common signs of Parkinsons disease are shaking, called tremors, and jerky, stiff movements. Some of the other possible signs include: TREATMENT: There is no known cure for Parkinsons disease and treatment is aimed at controlling the symptoms of the disease. Parkinsons patients will often times take medications, most of which increase the levels of dopamine in the brain, to control their symptoms but eventually the effects of the medication will wear … Continue reading →