Category Archives: Parkinson’s Treatment

Public release date: 26-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Sarah McDonnell s_mcd@mit.edu 617-253-8923 Massachusetts Institute of Technology CAMBRIDGE, MA -- A new imaging technique developed at MIT offers the first glimpse of the degeneration of two brain structures affected by Parkinson's disease. The technique, which combines several types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), could allow doctors to better monitor patients' progression and track the effectiveness of potential new treatments, says Suzanne Corkin, MIT professor emerita of neuroscience and leader of the research team. The first author of the paper is David Ziegler, who received his PhD in brain and cognitive sciences from MIT in 2011. The study, appearing in the Nov. 26 online edition of the Archives of Neurology, is also the first to provide clinical evidence for the theory that Parkinson's neurodegeneration begins deep in the brain and advances upward. "This progression has never been shown in living people, and that's what was special about this study. With our new imaging methods, we can see these structures more clearly than anyone had seen them before," Corkin says. Parkinson's disease currently affects 1 to 2 percent of people over 65, totaling five million people worldwide. The disease gradually … Continue reading →

Public release date: 27-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Anita Kar anita.kar@mcgill.ca 514-398-3376 McGill University This press release is available in French. Clinician-scientists take a unique, integrated approach that is essential to advancing science and medicine. Problems encountered in the clinic inspire research and new findings from the labs are directly applied to patients' needs. The integrated model is a hallmark of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital The Neuro, at McGill University and the MUHC and is now being replicated worldwide. Two clinician-scientists at The Neuro have been awarded grants today to further research on Parkinson's disease and HIV/AIDS. Tag. You're it! Studying how an enzyme relates to Parkinson's disease When the protein parkin functions properly it acts like a quality control officer, tagging other proteins that no longer work correctly for destruction. When there are mutations in the gene for parkin, this process no longer occurs efficiently, which causes cell death and leads to a familial form of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Edward Fon, Director, McGill Parkinson Program and clinician-scientist at The Neuro studies what regulates parkin's tagging process and the role a specific enzyme that removes tags may have in this process. Learning more about how … Continue reading →

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD) today announced successful top-line results from its pivotal Phase III trial evaluating the efficacy, tolerability and safety of pimavanserin in patients with Parkinsons disease psychosis (PDP). Pimavanserin is ACADIAs proprietary, non-dopaminergic product candidate that selectively blocks serotonin 5-HT2A receptors. Pimavanserin met the primary endpoint in the Phase III trial by demonstrating highly significant antipsychotic efficacy as measured using the 9-item SAPS-PD scale (p=0.001). Pimavanserin also met the key secondary endpoint for motoric tolerability as measured using Parts II and III of the Unified Parkinsons Disease Rating Scale, or UPDRS. These results were further supported by a highly significant improvement in the secondary efficacy measure, the Clinical Global Impression Improvement, or CGI-I, scale (p=0.001). In addition, clinical benefits were observed in all exploratory efficacy measures with significant improvements in nighttime sleep, daytime wakefulness and caregiver burden. Consistent with previous studies, pimavanserin was safe and well tolerated in this Phase III trial. These data represent an unprecedented advance for Parkinsons patients who suffer from the psychosis frequently associated with this disease, said Jeffrey Cummings, M.D., Sc.D., Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Among Parkinsons patients, psychosis is the leading cause … Continue reading →

NEW YORK (AP) Shares of Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. more than doubled to their highest price in more than three years Tuesday after the company said its drug pimavanserin reduced psychosis in patients with Parkinson's disease. Acadia said pimavanserin was more effective than a placebo in treating the condition. Patients who took the drug also slept better at night, were more awake during the day, and were less of a burden to caregivers. Acadia shares gained $3.40 to $5.70 in morning trading. Earlier the stock peaked at $6.54, its highest price since August 2009. The shares closed at $2.30 on Monday. In the late-stage trial, 199 patients took either 40 milligrams of pimavanserin or a placebo once a day for six weeks. The most common side effects of pimavanserin in the study were urinary tract infections and falling. Acadia says up to 60 percent of Americans with Parkinson's disease develop psychosis and there is no approved therapy to treat the condition. The company said anti-psychotic drugs are sometimes used to treat the condition, but those drugs can increase the risk of death as well as side effects like the loss of motor control. Acadia said pimavanserin did not affect patients' motor … Continue reading →

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Amarantus BioSciences, Inc. (AMBS), a biotechnology company developing new disease-modifying treatments and diagnostics for Parkinson's disease and Traumatic Brain Injury centered on its proprietary anti-apoptosis therapeutic protein MANF, today announced that the Company has successfully completed experiments demonstrating that MANF has an excellent diffusion profile in the striatum of rat brains. The striatum is located in the brain, and is partially responsible for proper movement as part of the basal ganglia network. The striatum becomes severely compromised in Parkinson's disease due to neurite retraction from dopaminergic neurons located in the substantia nigra. The data generated in this study show that when compared to GDNF, a neurotrophic factor currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial for Parkinson's disease, MANF had a significantly higher volume of distribution when delivered to the striatum. These results are part of on-going animal studies to determine the best localization of delivering MANF to the brain in Parkinson's disease human clinical studies. "The data obtained in this study provide strong evidence that volume distribution from the site of delivery in the brain is unlikely to be an impediment to MANF's clinical progress," said John W. Commissiong, PhD, Chief Scientist at Amarantus. … Continue reading →

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD) more than doubled in the shares biggest one-day increase ever after the companys experimental treatment helped Parkinsons disease patients with psychosis in a study. Acadia rose to $5.43 at the close of New York trading, its largest jump since the stock began trading in May 2004. The shares have quadrupled in the past 12 months. The drug, pimavanserin, met the primary goal of reducing psychotic symptoms in the late-stage study, the San Diego-based company said today in a statement. The most common side effects were urinary tract infections and falls, Acadia said. Psychosis, which can include hallucinations and delusions, is common in patients with the advanced stages of Parkinsons disease and there are no approved treatments for the condition, Acadia said. Pimavanserin is Acadias most advanced treatment in testing and would be the companys first product on the market if approved. To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net See the original post: Acadia Surges as Parkinson’s Treatment Shows Benefit … Continue reading →

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and NEW YORK, Nov. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Amarantus BioSciences, Inc. (AMBS), a biotechnology company developing new treatments and diagnostics for Parkinson's disease and Traumatic Brain Injury centered on its proprietary anti-apoptosis therapeutic protein MANF, today announced that OneMedPlace's Research Division has released an update to its previous research report on Amarantus Biosciences, highlighting recently announced positive ischemic heart disease (myocardial infarction, heart attack) efficacy data for MANF in animals. The updated research report focuses on the mechanisms of action by which MANF functions to protect heart cells under conditions that simulate ischemic heart disease in animals. The updated research report from OneMedPlace Research can be found online at http://www.onemedplace.com/reports/Amarantus_Research_Update_112012.pdf. The report states: "The results showed that MANF has a robust ability to protect the heart; during episodes of ischemia-reperfusion injury, hearts treated with MANF had 40% less total area of cell death as compared control hearts that did not receive treatment. These data serve as strong evidence that positions MANF as a potential breakthrough therapeutic treatment for ischemic heart conditions. This study adds to an accumulating body of research that all corroborate the therapeutic effects of MANF. Since its original discovery in 2003, MANF has been the subject … Continue reading →

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 →