Marisa Wexler, MS, senior science writer —

PharmaTher Holdings has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking that ketamine be given fast-track designation as a potential treatment for dyskinesia, or uncontrolled movements, that occur as a side effect of levodopa being used by people with Parkinson’s disease. The fast-track designation is designed…

Abbvie is funding a clinical trial called PROSPECT to assess how clinical outcomes and disease burden change over time for people with Parkinson’s disease whose symptoms are not adequately controlled with available treatments. Interim data from the trial, presented at this year’s American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual…

An assay using skin biopsies, called the Syn-One Test, was able to detect the alpha-synuclein protein that characterizes Parkinson’s disease and like conditions in more than 90% of the patients enrolled in a clinical trial. “These results validate cutaneous [skin-based] alpha-synuclein as a reliable biomarker for Parkinson’s disease and…

People with Parkinson’s disease given deep brain stimulation (DBS) targeting the right side of the brain experienced fewer cognitive side effects following treatment compared with those who received the procedure to the left side of the brain, according to new findings from a…

People prescribed certain medications to treat asthma or high blood pressure are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, according to an analysis of healthcare data in Norway. The finding implies these therapies may have protective effects in Parkinson’s, which are currently being explored in preclinical models. Trond Riise, PhD,…

The investigational combination therapy P2B001 was similar to Mirapex (pramipexole) at controlling symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in a clinical trial. But patients treated with P2B001 were less likely to experience sleepiness and fewer had orthostatic hypotension (a sudden drop in blood pressure on standing) as side effects. Lawrence Elmer,…

DopaFuse, a continuous oral levodopa-carbidopa delivery system, led to more stable levels of medication in the blood and better control of symptoms for people with Parkinson’s disease in a small Phase 2 study. Warren Olanow, MD, a neurologist at Mount Sinai, presented findings from the trial at the…

Most people with Parkinson’s disease treated with SPN-830, an apomorphine infusion pump, report improvement in their health status. SPN-830 also reduced “off” time, when symptoms are not being adequately controlled, by an average of about three hours a day. That’s according to new results from an open-label…

People with Parkinson’s disease tend to report a poorer quality of life if their treatments cannot fully control nonmotor symptoms, which increase with disease duration and severity, a study reported. Findings highlight how important it is for clinicians to accurately identify and properly address nonmotor symptoms of Parkinson’s,…

Implanting electrodes into the brain triggers inflammation by activating a group of immune signaling proteins called the inflammasome — which detects infection and, in turn, prompts a strong inflammatory response, a new study shows. These findings may open new avenues to improve deep brain stimulation, a type of therapy used…