Marisa Wexler, MS, senior science writer —

Older age at the onset of disease, high blood pressure, poor cognitive and motor function, and mutations in the APOE gene are risk factors of future cognitive impairment in newly diagnosed Parkinson’s disease, a study showed. The combination of these factors was able to more accurately predict which patients…

One year of treatment with Anavex 2-73 (blarcamesine) safely led to a reduction in symptom severity for 20 people with Parkinson’s disease dementia in an extension study of the Phase 2 ANAVEX 2-73-PDD-001 trial. This finding was in sharp contrast with the worsening of symptoms observed in the months that…

Blocking the activity of the synuclein nitrase enzyme reduced the levels of toxic clumps of the alpha-synuclein protein and lessened paralysis in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease, according to new data from Nitrase Therapeutics. Formation of toxic aggregates of alpha-synuclein is a hallmark of Parkinson’s and “has been…

PharmaTher Holdings has received guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the late-stage clinical development of ketamine for levodopa-induced dyskinesia, or uncontrolled movements, in people with Parkinson’s disease. “We are satisfied with the feedback we received from the Type C meeting with the FDA, which lays…

A science team at Merck (known as MSD outside North America) is the winner of an $8.5 million competition to develop an imaging technology capable of visualizing alpha-synuclein protein in the brains of people living with Parkinson’s disease, the contest’s organizer, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s…

A Phase 2 clinical trial of Neuraly’s NLY01 failed to show the experimental therapy was superior to a placebo at significantly slowing motor symptom progression in adults with early and untreated Parkinson’s disease. Some promising trends among patients younger than 60 were seen following analyses of the trial’s…

Most types of physical exercise can help to ease motor symptoms in adults with Parkinson’s disease and improve their quality of life, according to a review study. “Our review highlights the importance of physical exercise in general, while the exact exercise type may be secondary,” Elke Kalbe, PhD,…

Scientists are calling for a ban on trichloroethylene (TCE), a common and widely used chemical that’s increasingly linked to multiple health problems, including cancer and Parkinson’s disease. “Through a literature review and seven illustrative cases, we postulate that this ubiquitous chemical is contributing to the global rise of PD…

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) is calling on adults 60 and older in the U.S. and Canada who do not have Parkinson’s disease to participate in the Smell Test Challenge, which aims to better understand the connection between loss of smell and neurological disease.

Newron Pharmaceuticals and Zambon Pharma have ended their plans to run a clinical trial to test Xadago (safinamide) for uncontrolled movements induced by levodopa in people with Parkinson’s disease. Xadago is widely approved as an add-on treatment to help manage Parkinson’s off episodes, or periods when symptoms…