Category Archives: Parkinson’s Treatment

Teletherapy via videoconferencing appears to be just as effective in treating patients with Parkinsons disease as traditional in-person therapy, according to a new study published in the journal Neurology. The two greatest barriers to appropriate care for Parkinsons patients are distance and disability. Most physicians who specialize in movement disorders are located in academic medical centers in large urban areas, while most patients tend to live in suburban and rural areas. Patients who have impaired mobility and driving ability are faced with the added challenge of making frequent trips to the doctors office a task that becomes more difficult as the disease progresses. In fact, an estimated 40 percent of people with Parkinsons disease do not see a neurologist soon after diagnosis. This puts them at a much greater risk of falls leading to hip fractures, ending up in a nursing home or hospital, and even death. As the population ages, the challenge of providing care for all of these individuals will become ever greater, as it is projected that the number of people with Parkinsons disease will double by 2030. The findings are based on the Connect.Parkinson project, a nationwide program that links neurologists with remote Parkinsons patients. The … Continue reading →

Sativex is the cannabis-based mouth spray developed by UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals. (Source: herb.co) Fort Collins, CO(ENEWSPF)August 18, 2017. Patients suffering from Parkinsons disease and multiple sclerosis report that cannabis effectively mitigates many of their symptoms, according to survey data published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine. Five hundred and ninety-five subjects responded to an online questionnaire hosted on the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society webpages. Respondents reported that cannabis was highly effective (6.4 on a scale from zero to 7) at providing symptom management, and 59 percent of participants said that they had reduced their use of prescription drugs since initiating medical marijuana treatment. Those respondents who identified themselves as medical cannabis users reported lower overall levels of disability compared to non-users, specifically in the domains of memory, mood, and fatigue. Placebo-controlled clinical trials assessing the use of both whole-plant cannabis and/or cannabis-derived extracts in patients with MS have consistently shown efficacy in the mitigation of spasticity and other symptoms. A plant cannabis-derived spray, Sativex, is available by prescription for the treatment of MS in Canada, the United Kingdom, and in several other countries. Patients with PD consistently report subjective benefits from cannabis, particularly … Continue reading →

Exenatide has worked well for people with diabetes. Now, researchers want to see how good a treatment it can be for people with Parkinson's disease. In medicine, researchers often find that a drug intended for one use is also effective in different, unexpected ways. In a recent study, researchers from University College London (UCL) found that exenatide a medication thats been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2005 for people with type 2 diabetes has the potential to modify Parkinsons disease. The study, published in the Lancet and funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research (MJFF), had researchers testing exenatide in people with Parkinsons. In a test that pitted exenatide versus a placebo, researchers found that those who were taking exenatide had better motor function after their treatment. This improvement persisted after a 12-week follow-up. For those who had taken a placebo, motor function showed a marked decline. The findings have promising implications for people with Parkinsons disease, a long-term degenerative condition for which there is currently no cure. Exenatide has an interesting history. Dr. Dilan Athauda, first author of the UCL study, described the drugs past in an email to Healthline. Athauda is … Continue reading →

Mirapex(pramipexole), a common treatment forParkinsons disease, is believed to work by boosting the action of whatever dopamine is available, which is low in people with Parkinsons. It is a dopamine agonist that directly stimulates nerves in the brain that are not naturally being stimulated by dopamine. Several years ago, my doctor diagnosed me with Parkinsons. Immediately, he placed me on Mirapex(pramipexole dihydrochloride). I cant say that Ive had a problem with this particular medication, except that sometimes I felt as if I could lie down right where I was and have a glorious nap about half an hour after taking it. Although I havent had many side effects, others have. Just as PD affects each individual differently, so do the medications. My reactions were mild, and yet at each checkup, my doctor did not fail to ask if I had started having addictive behaviors with gambling, shopping, or sex. Fortunately, I was able to answer no to his questions, but that is not the case with three people I became acquainted with through a PD support group I belong to through Facebook.I am going to call them Cora, Jim, and Carl. Coras father is a PD patient and has taken … Continue reading →

17 Aug 2017 August brought some welcome news for the Parkinsons community: results from a Phase 2 clinical trial suggested the diabetes drug exenatide halted the worsening of motor problems in people in moderate stages of the disease. As reported in the Lancet on August 3, motor symptoms slightly improved in those taking the drug for nearly a year, while the placebo group declined. Notably, a portion of the benefits of exenatide, aka Bydureon, persisted for 12 weeks after participants had stopped taking the drug. The results come with caveats--as the trial included only 62 patients, all from a single center. Some commentators were not convinced the results point to modification of the disease, as patients had the greatest motor improvements at the beginning of the trial. However, even as the authors and commentators stressed that the findings must be replicated in larger trials, optimism was in the air. Thomas Foltynie of University College London headed thetrial. I think it is an exciting new era in PD treatment, commented Ted Dawson of John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Naturally the trial needs to be replicated in a larger cohort of de-novo patients. This should prime the pump for … Continue reading →

Melbourne, Australia and Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Kinetics Corporation (GKC), a digital health company revolutionizing the management of Parkinson's disease, announced today it has recently received Notice of Allowance for U.S. patent application 12/997540, protecting the company's lead product, the Personal KinetiGraph (PKG) (Parkinson's Kinetigraph outside of the U.S.) system, which the company is marketing in the U.S. The patent application pertains to the objective measurement of bradykinesia. Bradykinesia, or slowness of movement, is one of the most common symptoms, and a defining feature, of Parkinson's disease. The capacity to continuously measure this movement symptom underpins the PKG system. "The allowance of this application supports GKC's continued progress in the commercialization of our novel, U.S. FDA-cleared PKG system, which is being used to support the management of Parkinson's disease in over 215 clinics in 16 countries around the world," said GKC's global head of business development and legal affairs, Michelle Goldsmith. "We are aggressively pursuing clinical and commercial milestones that will ultimately enable us to make measurable change in the lives of people with Parkinson's." The PKG system, developed by Professor Malcolm Horne and Dr. Rob Griffiths following many years of research at Melbourne's Howard Florey … Continue reading →

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Dr Dilan Athauda MRCPSobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement DisordersUCL Institute of Neurology & The National Hospital for Neurology and NeurosurgeryLondon MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?Response: Exenatide is a synthetic version of a naturally occurring protein exendin-4 that was originally discovered by Dr John Eng in the early 1990s in the saliva of the Gila Monster, a venomous lizard native to the Southwestern United states. He and his team were looking for bio-active peptides in insect and lizard venom that could be useful for people with Type 2 diabetes. They discovered that exendin-4 was extremely similar to a human hormone called Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). In humans, GLP-1 is secreted after you eat a meal to stimulate insulin secretion (and inhibit glucagon production) of which the end result is a lowering of blood sugar. Unfortunately human GLP-1 is rapidly broken down by a circulating enzyme called dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) and its effects only last minutes. Importantly, it was discovered that exendin-4 is naturally resistant to the actions of this enzyme, meaning its effects on blood sugar control lasts much longer in the body. These properties made it very attractive to people trying to treat … Continue reading →

(RTTNews) - Shares of Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ADMS) have lost more than 9% of their value year to date while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (ETF) (IBB) is up more than 14% during the same period. Adamas is focused on developing new medicines for chronic neurologic conditions like Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease. The Company's lead program is ADS-5102, a high-dose *Amantadine, taken once-daily at bedtime, in development for levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in people with Parkinson's disease. *Amantadine is an antiviral medication used to prevent or treat certain influenza infections and is also prescribed to relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The drug is also effective in relieving fatigue in multiple sclerosis. Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system characterized by tremor, or shaking often in a hand or leg, and stiff muscles. It is estimated that over 1.5 million people in the U.S. have Parkinson's disease. Levodopa remains the gold standard to treat Parkinson's symptoms. A common and severe complication of the Levodopa therapy is dyskinesia, which refers to non-purposeful, fragmented or jerky motions. Approximately 200,000 Parkinson's disease patients suffer from Levodopa-induced dyskinesia, or LID. Adamas' drug candidate for levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in … Continue reading →

Mary Blanton, 74, noticed years ago she was dragging her foot a little bit. "It just kept on getting worse," she said. Three years ago, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease by a Houston doctor. The neurodegenerative brain disorder progresses slowly in most people and, in her case, affects her gait and balance. So when her doctor recommended a specific type of therapy called LSVT BIG, she turned to a physical therapist she has trusted for the past 20 years or so. Mary Drost, 55, was working on a doctorate degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch at the time. Drost's professor recommended she become certified in the therapy for her last semester because it complemented her coursework. When Blanton learned Drost would be able to provide the specialized treatment locally, she was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Drost said with an aging population, this protocol will become more crucial. Laura Guse, chief clinical officer of LSVT BIG, said the program should be prescribed early in the course of Parkinson's disease. "Don't wait till you're falling over or having severe problems with your mobility or speech. Do something now," she said. Physical and occupational therapists can be … Continue reading →

His nonprofit foundation has three main goals: first, find a way to halt progression of Parkinson's with GBA. Next, identify a regenerative approach to repair the damage it wreaks. And finally, find a way to prevent it altogether. Accomplishing even just the first would be to do something that's never been done. Despite years of effort and capital from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research to funding from Google founder Sergey Brin treatments for Parkinson's disease have remained as elusive as those for other devastating neurodegenerative conditions, like Alzheimer's. "It has been extremely challenging, and many clinical trials have failed," said Dr. Dimitri Krainc, chairman of the department of neurology and director of the Center for Rare Neurological Diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "However, we have learned important lessons from these failures." The disease was first described two centuries ago, in 1817, by British surgeon James Parkinson. In a document he called "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy," Parkinson described a condition characterized by "involuntary tremulous motion, with lessened muscular power." We know now that Parkinson's results from loss of brain cells, including those that produce the chemical messenger dopamine, important for coordinating movement. Treatments … Continue reading →