The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to review a request by Adamas Pharmaceuticals to approve ADS-5102 (amantadine hydrochloride) extended-release capsules to treat levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The company submitted the request as New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA in October. A…
Richard Myers, a Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) professor of neurology, has just received a $100,000 grant from the Ellison Foundation to investigate new targets for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Myers’ focus is on genetic research methods into diseases with adult onset, like PD, Huntington’s, or obesity. His research team has been examining the…
Researchers have discovered that welders develop symptoms of parkinsonism — a general term referring to disorders that cause movement problems that resemble those of Parkinson’s disease — because of prolonged exposure to manganese, a chemical element from welding fumes. The finding was reported in the study “Dose-dependent progression of parkinsonism…
President Obama recently signed into law the $6.3 billion 21st Century Cures Act, giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more leeway to work with pharmaceutical companies and evaluate new treatments, including stem cell therapies. The “Moonshot” bill, named in memory of Vice President Joe Biden’s son Beau, who lost his…
Evotec and Celgene Corporation are collaborating on disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The companies will use Evotec’s induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) platform to develop the treatments. IPSC involves reprogramming body cells to act like embryonic stem cells. The reprogramming gives other cells the ability to…
Sage Therapeutics has started a Phase 2 clinical trial of its drug candidate SAGE-217 in both mood and movement disorders. The first patients have been dosed with SAGE-217 in the proof-of-concept trial evaluating the drug in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The company also announced it has started recruiting…
MeiraGTx will expand its neurodegenerative disease gene therapy pipeline to include Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Recent research has focused on the idea that misfolded proteins play a critical role in damaging neuronal function and progression to neuronal cell death. MeiraGTx’s new program, in partnership with Greg…
Voyager Therapeutics has reported positive interim six- and 12-month data from its ongoing Phase 1b clinical trial, showing that its gene therapy VY-AADC01 was well-tolerated and resulted in clinically relevant outcomes for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD). The Phase 1b open-label clinical trial (NCT01973543), which is…
The National Institutes for Health (NIH) will grant Emory University more $1 million annually for the next five years to renew its support for Emory’s Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence in Parkinson’s Disease Research, aiming to fund the development of more effective Parkinson’s disease treatments that have…
Researchers in Ireland are reporting that people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are being admitted to hospitals at increasing rates for serious but often preventable conditions — most often, urinary and respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, and fractures of the femur. The study, “Acute Hospital Admissions of Individuals with a Known …
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