Category Archives: Parkinson’s Treatment

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Dec-2013 Contact: Mike Morrison mdmorrison@partners.org 617-724-6425 Massachusetts General Hospital A clinical trial assessing the potential of the nutritional supplement inosine to treat Parkinson disease has found that the studied dosages successfully raised participants' levels of the antioxidant urate without producing serious side effects. Results of the two-year phase 2 trial conducted by a consortium led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard School of Public Health, and the University of Rochester are being published in JAMA Neurology. Several previous studies have suggested that urate elevation may reduce the risk of Parkinson disease or slow its progression. "This study provided clear evidence that, in people with early Parkinson disease, inosine treatment can safely elevate urate levels in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid for months or years," says Michael Schwarzschild, MD, PhD, principal investigator of the study and an MGH neurologist. "We know that urate has neuroprotective properties in animal models, and an unusual convergence of human studies suggested its possible use as a disease-modifying strategy in Parkinson's; so the positive results of this trial are very encouraging." Characterized by tremors, rigidity, difficulty walking and other symptoms, Parkinson disease is caused by the destruction of brain cells that … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Dec-2013 Contact: Mike Morrison mdmorrison@partners.org 617-724-6425 The JAMA Network Journals The drug inosine appears to be a safe and effective way to raise blood and cerebrospinal fluid urate levels in patients with early Parkinson disease (PD), suggesting it may be a potential strategy to slow the disability progression of the degenerative neurological disorder, according to a report published by JAMA Neurology, a JAMA Network publication. Urate is an end product of human metabolism. Animal experiments suggest that urate may protect against PD, and higher blood urate levels are associated with reduced risk and slower progression of PD, according to the study background. Inosine is a drug that raises urate levels and therefore may be useful for PD. Researchers in the Parkinson Disease Study Group SURE-PD (Safety of Urate Elevation in PD) trial randomized 75 patients with early PD (average age 62 years and not yet requiring treatment for their symptoms) to placebo or doses of inosine to produce mild or moderate elevation in blood urate levels to examine the safety, tolerability and ability of inosine to elevate urate levels. Patients were administered inosine in 500-mg capsules taken orally. Blood (serum) urate levels rose by 2.3 and 3.0 … Continue reading →

ELDORA For 30 years Rick Reuter had dreamed of moving to Colorado to be a ski bum, and when it finally became a reality on a majestic blue-sky morning last week at Eldora Mountain Resort, it felt like a miracle. Rick and his wife, Traci, remembered the days when he was unable to dress himself, feed himself or roll over in bed without her help because of Parkinson's disease. And that wasn't such a long time ago. "You have no idea how happy I am right now," Traci said as Rick clicked into his skis for the first time in eight years, a beatific smile on his face. He was a little nervous on the first lift ride, wondering whether he would be able to catch himself if he lost his balance, but he skied beautifully. No snowplow turns for Colorado's newest ski bum. His skis were parallel, boots inches apart, turns graceful on a perfectly groomed slope they had almost to themselves. "I felt like me again," said Rick, 47. "I felt that way too," said Traci, 42. "I felt like, 'Oh, my gosh, we just went back in time. We just went back 15 years.' " Rick and … Continue reading →

In our 12-week, randomised, double-blind, double-dummy, double-titration trial, we enrolled adults (aged 30 years) with advanced Parkinson's disease and motor complications at 26 centres in Germany, New Zealand, and the USA. Eligible participants had jejunal placement of a percutaneous gastrojejunostomy tube, and were then randomly allocated (1:1) to treatment with immediate-release oral levodopa-carbidopa plus placebo intestinal gel infusion or levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel infusion plus oral placebo. Randomisation was stratified by site, with a mixed block size of 2 or 4. The primary endpoint was change from baseline to final visit in motor off-time. We assessed change in motor on-time without troublesome dyskinesia as a prespecified key secondary outcome. We assessed efficacy in a full-analysis set of participants with data for baseline and at least one post-baseline assessment, and imputed missing data with the last observation carried forward approach. We assessed safety in randomly allocated patients who underwent the percutaneous gastrojejunostomy procedure. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, numbers NCT00660387 and NCT0357994. Read more: Continuous intrajejunal infusion of levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel for patients with advanced Parkinson's disease ... … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 19-Dec-2013 Contact: Federica Sgorbissa pressroom@sissa.it 39-040-378-7644 International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA) Patients affected by Parkinson's disease may experience, in addition to the more obvious motor symptoms (such as tremors and stiffness), difficulties recognizing emotions in the facial expressions and speech prosody (intonation) of other people. A number of investigations have shown that even deep brain stimulation, a treatment that has become widely used in recent years, may cause similar disorders. SISSA and the University Hospital "Santa Maria della Misericordia" in Udine collaborated in a study that looked into this possibility, finding that the surgical procedure is linked to only a few transient symptoms, and has a very mild effect on impaired recognition of pre-existing emotions. Although relatively new as a technique, deep brain stimulation has already become very widely used. It consists in electrically stimulating, by means of implanted microelectrodes, the neurons of specific areas in the brain. In Parkinson's disease, the areas to be stimulated are some nuclei making up the basal ganglia. These brain structures are impaired in the disease and produce less dopamine than the body needs, leading to the development of motor symptoms. Electrical stimulation blocks the signals causing the motor symptoms, … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 18-Dec-2013 Contact: Rachel Seroka rseroka@aan.com 612-928-6129 American Academy of Neurology MINNEAPOLIS Deep brain stimulation may have a beneficial effect on driving ability for people with Parkinson's disease, according to a new study published in the December 18, 2013, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Deep brain stimulation uses a surgical implant similar to a pacemaker to send electrical impulses to the brain. "Up until now, we weren't sure how deep brain stimulation would affect driving," said study author Carsten Buhmann, MD, of University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany. "On the one hand, it might enhance driving ability by improving the motor problems which occur with Parkinson's disease, but on the other hand, it might hamper driving because it potentially causes a decline in executive cognitive skills." The study involved 23 people who had deep brain stimulators, 21 people with Parkinson's disease who did not have stimulators and 21 people who did not have Parkinson's disease. All of the participants had been driving at least once a week for more than 30 minutes within the previous three years. All were tested with a driving simulator. Those with stimulators completed the … Continue reading →

By Dow Jones Business News, December 11, 2013, 05:05:00 PM EDT Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX) has entered a pact with Prothena Corp. PLC ( PRTA ) to develop and commercialize a treatment the clinical-stage biotechnology firm is developing for Parkinson's disease. Prothena, which generates almost no revenue, has a portfolio of three therapeutic antibody programs, including one for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, which has no cure. The product candidates have yet to reach Phase 2 development. As part of the collaboration with Swiss-based Roche, Prothena will receive up to $600 million, inclusive of upfront payment and near-term clinical milestone totaling $45 million, as well as 30% of U.S. profits and up to double-digit royalties on net sales outside the U.S. A majority of the potential payments to Prothena are linked to achievements of development, regulatory and first commercial sales milestones. As part of the agreement, Roche and Prothena are initiating a research collaboration. Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. In early stages, an individual's face may show little or no expression and speech may become soft or slurred. The disease's symptoms worsen over time. Shares of Prothena, unchanged in after-hours trading, have … Continue reading →

By Dow Jones Business News, December 11, 2013, 04:51:00 PM EDT By John Kell Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX) has entered a pact with Prothena Corp. PLC ( PRTA ) to develop and commercialize a treatment the clinical-stage biotechnology firm is developing for Parkinson's disease. Prothena, which generates almost no revenue, has a portfolio of three therapeutic antibody programs, including one for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, which has no cure. The product candidates have yet to reach Phase 2 development. As part of the collaboration with Swiss-based Roche, Prothena will receive up to $600 million, inclusive of upfront payment and near-term clinical milestone totaling $45 million, as well as 30% of U.S. profits and up to double-digit royalties on net sales outside the U.S. A majority of the potential payments to Prothena are linked to achievements of development, regulatory and first commercial sales milestones. As part of the agreement, Roche and Prothena are initiating a research collaboration. Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. In early stages, an individual's face may show little or no expression and speech may become soft or slurred. The disease's symptoms worsen over time. Shares of Prothena, unchanged in … Continue reading →

A groundbreaking attempt to heal eight Parkinson's patients with their own cells could move from research to the clinic next year. For eight Parkinson's patients seeking treatment with a new form of stem cell therapy, 2014 promises to be a milestone. If all goes well, next year the FDA will give approval to begin clinical trials. And if the patients can raise enough money, the scientists and doctors working with them will have the money to proceed. Jeanne Loring, a stem cell scientist at The Scripps Research Institute, discusses the status of a project to treat Parkinson's patients with their own cells, turned into the kind of brain cells destroyed in Parkinson's. The project is a collaboration with Scripps Health and the Parkinson's Association of San Diego. Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute led by Jeanne Loring have taken skin cells from all patients and grown them into artificial embryonic stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells. They then converted the cells into dopamine-making neurons, the kind destroyed in Parkinson's disease. Loring discussed the project's progress on Friday morning at the 2013 World Stem Cell Summit in San Diego. If animal studies now under way and other requirements are met, … Continue reading →

Albany, NY (PRWEB) December 12, 2013 Parkinsons Disease Therapeutics Market to 2019 - Pipeline Shows Shift towards Long Term Disease Management. The Parkinsons Disease (PD) market is dominated by symptomatic treatments targeting functional impairment in PD. Levodopa has remained the gold standard treatment for almost 40 years and has significantly improved patient quality of life. There is currently a huge unmet need for disease-modifying treatments that slow progression or have neuroprotective properties. Over the 20122019 forecast period, the PD market is anticipated to decline from $3.4 billion in 2012 to $2.9 billion in 2019, as a consequence of upcoming patent expirations of high-profile products such as Azilect, Stalevo and Comtan. View full report with complete TOC at http://www.researchmoz.us/parkinsons-disease-therapeutics-market-to-2019-pipeline-shows-shift-towards-long-term-disease-management-report.html. Although a few market entrants are anticipated to enter the market over the forecast period, they are not expected to offset the impact of generic erosion. Despite their superior profiles over existing treatments, these new products are not expected to command a premium price as they will be competing against generic products. The current PD pipeline reflects a shift of focus to long-term PD management, marked by the development of key pipeline candidates targeting levodopa-associated motor complications. These products will have the … Continue reading →