Lindsey Shapiro, PhD,  science writer—

Researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven approach to track and measure freezing of gait (FOG), a common motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease. The technology will be used in a clinical trial that’s testing the safety and preliminary efficacy…

Scientists have developed a blood test to detect Parkinson’s disease in its very early stages, before a person experiences the first symptoms that would normally prompt a Parkinson’s diagnosis, a study showed. After identifying that people with Parkinson’s have alterations in two types of transfer RNA fragments (tRFs),…

A wearable sensor that’s designed to monitor and improve swallowing led to increased swallowing frequency for people with Parkinson’s disease in a small clinical study. The scientists believe the sensors are useful for continuous monitoring of swallowing dysfunction, or dysphagia, in Parkinson’s, and may be a way to help…

Arvinas has begun a Phase 1 clinical trial to test its investigational therapy ARV-102 in people with Parkinson’s disease, with Phase 1 data in healthy adults showing it was safe and worked as expected. ARV-102 is being developed for neurodegenerative conditions where the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2, or…

Lecigon, an intestinal gel formulation of levodopa, entacapone, and carbidopa, provided sustained motor symptom control for people with advanced Parkinson’s disease, according to interim, one-year analyses from a real-world study in Europe. The treatment, which is approved in several European countries and Australia, but not the U.S.,…

Physical exercise eased signs of a type of iron-mediated cell death called ferroptosis in microglia and improved neurological function in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease, a study finds. Microglia are a type of nervous system support cell that’s believed to be important in the neurodegenerative disease. When ferroptosis was…

Rare mutations that impair the normal activity of the ITSN1 gene were found to increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease by about 10 times, according to a study. The findings are in line with those of another recent study that linked ITSN1 mutations to an elevated Parkinson’s risk,…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Medtronic’s BrainSense adaptive deep brain stimulation (DBS) system and electrode identifier to treat people with Parkinson’s disease. Among available DBS systems, BrainSense is the first to automatically adapt its stimulation for a more personalized treatment approach, the company noted. Specifically,…

Gene enhancers may play an important role in neuronal development and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, a study found. Enhancers work to turn on the activity of their target genes. Experiments showed that mutations previously linked to Parkinson’s were found within these enhancer regions, and that the enhancers…

Supernus Pharmaceuticals is on track to make Onapgo (apomorphine hydrochloride) — its newly approved medication for treating motor fluctuations in advanced Parkinson’s disease — available to patients in the U.S. by summer. That’s according to Jonathan Rubin, MD, chief medical officer at Supernus, who said that, by…