Marisa Wexler, MS, senior science writer —

Sleep benefit — a poorly understood phenomenon where people with Parkinson’s disease have fewer symptoms upon waking up — is associated with higher levels of dopamine transporter proteins in a region of the brain called the putamen, a study shows. These findings “are meaningful because they provide direct neurochemical…

An automated algorithm called StimFit may help speed up the time to finding optimal settings of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for each Parkinson’s disease patient undergoing the procedure, a new study shows. The study, “Automated deep brain stimulation programming based on electrode location: a randomized,…

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued a letter in support of model-based clinical trial simulators for Parkinson’s disease that are being developed by the Critical Path for Parkinson’s (CPP) consortium. In its letter, the European regulatory agency called on industry sponsors to share with the consortium data…

Alpha-synuclein clumps’ toxic effects — a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease — are independent of the production of the protein by neurons themselves, according to a study in mice. In mice lacking alpha-synuclein, exposure to toxic protein clumping resulted in comparable neurodegeneration, which was found to be related to the…

An open-label extension study has been launched for NOPARK, a placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial that’s assessing the effectiveness of nicotinamide riboside (NR) with Parkinson’s disease. NR is the active ingredient of Niagen, a dietary oral supplement that ChromaDex markets to promote “healthy aging.” Dietary supplements, unlike…

Nearly 90,000 people, 65 or older, are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease every year in the U.S., representing an increase of about 50% relative to previous estimates of the disease’s incidence, a study showed. “These updated estimates of incidence are necessary for understanding disease risk, planning health care delivery, and…

Clinical Ink is partnering with a “leading biopharmaceutical organization” to monitor symptoms of people with Parkinson’s disease at home and clinical sites in the U.S. and Europe using the company’s technology. This will be part of a late-phase clinical development program, in which symptoms of Parkinson’s patients will…

Top-line results are expected next month from a Phase 2b clinical trial testing whether the investigational oral therapy mesdopetam can ease levodopa-induced dyskinesia, or involuntary movements, in people with Parkinson’s disease. IRLAB Therapeutics, the therapy’s original developer and sponsor of the trial, announced that the final participant…

Nitrase Therapeutics has partnered with HitGen in the search for novel therapies that suppress nitrases, a class of enzymes discovered by Nitrase. Nitrases are responsible for nitration, a type of biochemical modification of proteins that is linked to cellular stress and can change that protein’s structure, function, and…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put a hold on clinical trials of IkT-148009, an experimental oral therapy that Inhibikase Therapeutics is developing for Parkinson’s disease and other related and non-related conditions. The hold comes just a few months after Inhibikase started dosing Parkinson’s patients…