Category Archives: Parkinson’s Treatment

SUN CITY, Ariz. -- For Drs. Charles Adler and Thomas Beach, one of the most difficult parts of diagnosing Parkinson's disease is that they could be wrong. "There is no test, so we don't have any way of looking at making a diagnosis while someone is alive," said Adler, a neurologist with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. But Adler and Beach, a senior scientist at the Banner Sun Health Research Institute, are reporting strides in developing the first diagnostic test to detect Parkinson's, a devastating and chronic neurological disorder. A study they conducted through the Mayo Clinic and Banner Health found that examining a portion of a person's saliva gland may allow doctors to diagnose the disease. They will present the study in March at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting. Should this lead to a diagnostic test, Adler said he is pretty confident it will be able to change the course of the disease. "Patients often undergo invasive treatment, and people who don't have Parkinson's don't respond well," Adler said. "Being able to tell people, Yes, you do have Parkinson's,' would make it much easier." Diagnosis has for years occurred through a sometimes inaccurate examination of symptoms such … Continue reading →

Cleveland-area patient monitoring company Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies is using the momentum its built in the clinical trials market to drive penetration of its device/software technology for assessing Parkinsons disease symptoms other markets this year. The companys FDA-cleared Kinesia technology platform is designed to give clinicians a quantitative way to assess the severity of motor-related symptoms associated with Parkinsons. To use it, patients wear a motion sensor device on their finger and perform a series of motor tests prompted by accompanying web-based software. The sensor captures linear acceleration and angular velocity data and transmits it via Bluetooth to the software, which generates reports to help patients and clinicians track symptoms over time. Company President Joe Giuffrida said the system is used primarily in three ways: By clinicians to monitor patients disease progression and how treatments affect their symptoms; by researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of drugs in clinical trials; and by neurologists to fine-tune the programming of deep brain stimulation devices after theyve been implanted. We are getting a lot of traction in the clinical trials market right now, Giuffrida said. Thats because Parkinsons is an active space for drug development, with more than 150 individual programs, most of which are … Continue reading →

HILLSBORO, Ore. -- Ben Petrick is talking about a career highlight. It happened just the other morning. Petrick, the onetime Major League catcher whose bright future in baseball was erased by Parkinson's disease, was in his house, watching his 5-year-old daughter, Makena, while his soon-to-be-1-year-old, Madison, napped, and his wife, Kellie, was out teaching third graders. Petrick hadn't taken his medication, and when he's "off," things can get dicey. Petrick's walk from one end of the kitchen to the other became a dizzied stagger. The rigidity of his plagued body took over and he lost his balance. He fell to his knees and stayed in the position for a moment, collecting himself to try to get back up. Then he felt little arms around his shoulders. "Daddy, are you OK?" Makena said. "Yeah, sweetie," he said. "I'm OK." *** A look at Ben Petrick's player page doesn't reveal anything out of the ordinary, even for a guy who had become one of the top prospects in his sport by the time he debuted for the Colorado Rockies on Sept. 1, 1999, at the age of 22. It's pretty common for even a blue-chipper to never quite figure it out at … Continue reading →

By Assemblyman Will Barclay Parkinsons Disease is a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder that affects one in 100 people over age 60. While the average age at onset is 60, people have been diagnosed as young as 18. There is no objective test, or biomarker, for Parkinsons Disease, so the rate of misdiagnosis can be relatively high. Parkinsons Disease was first characterized by an English doctor, James Parkinson, in 1817. According to the National Institute of Health, Parkinsons Disease is a disorder of the central nervous system that results from the loss of cells in various parts of the brain, including a region called the substantia nigra. The substantia nigra cells produce dopamine, a chemical messenger responsible for transmitting signals within the brain that allow for coordination of movement. Loss of dopamine causes neurons to fire without normal control, leaving patients less able to direct or control their movement. Parkinsons disease is one of several diseases categorized by clinicians as movement disorders. Symptoms include tremor, rigidity, extreme slowness of movement, and impaired balance. Swallowing and speaking difficulties are also common, as are several non-motor symptoms that seriously affect quality of life. Parkinsons disease belongs to a group of conditions called movement … Continue reading →

Impax Laboratories Inc. (IPXL) fell the most in more than two months after the company failed to win U.S. approval for an extended-release formulation of a Parkinsons disease drug used to relieve spasms in patients. Impax tumbled 7.7 percent to $19.40 at 12:18 p.m. New York time, after dropping as low as $18.90 for its largest intraday decline since Oct. 31. Shares of the Hayward, California-based company increased 4.9 percent in the 12 months ended Jan. 18. The Food and Drug Administration requires a re-inspection of a plant involved in the development of the medicine called Rytary, which combines standard Parkinsons medications in a new sustained release formulation, Impax said yesterday in a statement. A warning letter was issued in May 2011, Impax said. We will work with the FDA on the appropriate next steps for the Rytary application, Impax President and CEO Larry Hsu said in the statement. We remain committed to resolving the warning letter and bringing this new treatment option to patients who are suffering from Parkinsons disease. The medication would likely be used most among patients for whom the standard medicines, levodopa and carbidopa, have stopped working as reliably, said David Amsellem, an analyst with Piper … Continue reading →

Impax Laboratories Inc. (IPXL) failed to win U.S. approval for a new version of an extended-release drug used to relieve spasms in patients with Parkinsons disease. The Food and Drug Administration requires a re-inspection of a plant involved in the development of the medicine called Rytary, which combines standard Parkinsons medications in a new sustained release formulation, the Hayward, California-based company said today in a statement. A warning letter was issued in May 2011, Impax said. We will work with the FDA on the appropriate next steps for the Rytary application, said Larry Hsu, president and CEO of Impax, in the statement. We remain committed to resolving the warning letter and bringing this new treatment option to patients who are suffering from Parkinsons disease. The medication would likely be used most among patients for whom the standard medicines, levodopa and carbidopa, have stopped working as reliably, said David Amsellem, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co. in New York. Rytary could generate peak sales of $200 million to $300 million, Amsellem said. A controlled-release product is something that has been elusive over the years, Amsellem said in a telephone interview. Impax, which specializes in controlled-release drugs, will develop and sell … Continue reading →

By Dan Carroll | More Articles January 22, 2013 | In a press statement released Monday, biotech firm Impax Laboratories (NASDAQ: IPXL) announced that the FDA has given the company a response to its New Drug Application for Rytary, the company's aspiring sustained-release Parkinson's Disease treatment, asking for a reinspection of Impax's development plantin Hayward, Calif. According to Impax, the FDA previously issued a warning letter about the facility back in 2011. Impax CEO and president Larry Hsu was quoted in the statement as saying, "We will work with the FDA on the appropriate next steps for the RYTARY application ... We remain committed to resolving the warning letter and bringing this new treatment option to patients who are suffering from Parkinson's disease." Should Rytary be approved, estimates have peggedpeak sales of the drug between $200 million and $300 million annually. Impax will market and sell the drug in the U.S. and Taiwan, while GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) will handle such duties in other international regions. link The rest is here: FDA Holds Up Impax Parkinson's Drug Approval Bid … Continue reading →

Jan. 20, 2013 Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological condition. At present, it is usually diagnosed only when motor features are present. Hence, there is a need to develop objective and measurable biomarkers to improve PD diagnostics during its earlier stage, prior to its motor onset. In this pilot study, researchers identified and tested the first blood-based circulating microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers for PD. Their results are published in the latest issue of Journal of Parkinson's Disease. PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the United States, affecting approximately one million Americans and five million people worldwide. Its prevalence is projected to double by 2030. The most obvious symptoms are movement-related, such as involuntary shaking and muscle stiffness; later, cognitive and behavioral problems may develop along with additional peripheral symptoms such as gastrointestinal dysfunction. There is currently no cure, although the drug levodopa can relieve the symptoms. The differential diagnosis of PD is based primarily on subjective clinical rating scales associated with motor functions. As these scales can only be used when motor features are present, 60-70% of a patient's dopaminergic neurons are already lost by the time of diagnosis. "The ideal biomarker should be minimally-invasive, cost efficient, … Continue reading →

Jan. 18, 2013 With a new insight into a model of Parkinson's disease, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have identified a novel target for mitigating some of the disease's toll on the brain. Narayan G. Avadhani, Harriet Ellison Woodward Professor of Biochemistry and chair of the Department of Animal Biology at Penn Vet, was the senior author on the research. Other department members contributing to the work included Prachi Bajpai, Michelle C. Sangar, Shilpee Singh, Weigang Tang, Seema Bansal and Ji-Kang Fang. Co-authors from Vanderbilt University are Goutam Chowdhury, Qian Cheng, Martha V. Martin and F. Peter Guengerich. To study Parkinson's, researchers have commonly mimicked the effects of the disease in animals by giving them a compound known as MPTP, a contaminant of the illicit drug MPPP, or synthetic heroin. MPTP causes damage to brain cells that respond to the neurotransmitter dopamine, leading to problems in muscle control, including tremors and difficulty walking. The common understanding of MPTP's mechanism was that it entered the brain and was eventually converted to the toxic compound MPP+ by the enzyme MAO-B, which is located on the mitochondria of non-dopaminergic (or dopamine-sensitive) neurons. Scientists believed MPP+ was carried by … Continue reading →

Newswise Daniel Duran rose at 3:30 a.m. one August morning to have electrodes stuck into his brain. Called deep-brain stimulation (DBS), the surgery changed his life. Instead of long, frozen "off" periods due to Parkinson's disease, Duran now enjoys hours at a time when he can move about. Could DBS help patients with Alzheimer's disease? While there are hints it might, the therapy requires delicate surgery and it does not work for all patients. Alzforum reporter Amber Dance visited the operating room to see how DBS works in practice, and to explore its potential as a treatment for Alzheimer's . Follow her story here. About Alzforum: The Alzheimer Research Forum (www.alzforum.org), founded in 1996, is the web's most dynamic scientific community dedicated to understanding Alzheimer disease and related disorders. Access to the web site is free to all. The Forums editorial priorities are as diverse as the needs of the research community. The web site reports on the latest scientific findings, from basic research to clinical trials; creates and maintains public databases of essential research data and reagents; and produces discussion forums to promote debate, speed the dissemination of new ideas, and break down barriers across the numerous disciplines that … Continue reading →