The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 4D Pharma’s request to launch a Phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S. evaluating the safety and tolerability of MRx0005 and MRx0029, its experimental live biotherapeutic products (LBPs) for Parkinson’s disease. LBPs, a new class of therapies, are defined by the…
People who have had a heart attack are at lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease later in life relative to the general population, according to a nationwide study in Denmark. “These findings indicate that the risk of Parkinson’s disease is at least not increased following a heart attack and…
Researchers at Iowa State University are evaluating whether four months of group singing sessions can improve breathing and swallowing in people with Parkinson’s disease. Changes in brain activity and stress markers also will be analyzed. The study, supported by a three-year grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, is…
Parkinson’s patients have a subpopulation of astrocytes — brain cells that support neuronal function and health — that produce a vitamin D-activating enzyme called CYP27B1 and are involved in clearing the toxic alpha-synuclein clumps that form in the disease. The small study compared deceased Parkinson’s…
Gastrointestinal (GI) dysmotility, or lack of movement, can impair the absorption and delay the effects of levodopa-based medication in people with Parkinson’s disease, a study reports. Notably, the study describes the cases of two Parkinson’s patients who stopped responding to levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel — available under the brand name…
A collaborative effort between researchers in Spain and Norway is helping to enrich an understanding of the regulatory mechanisms behind the production of dopamine, the brain chemical messenger progressively lost in people with Parkinson’s disease. Specifically, the team determined the structure of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) — the rate-limiting enzyme…
Among Parkinson’s patients, those carrying GBA and APOE gene mutations have a significantly faster cognitive decline and a higher risk of progression to dementia, a study in more than 1,000 patients across Northern Europe reported. Notably, the dementia risk was even higher when mutations in both genes were present. No significant associations…
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has added Ongentys (opicapone) — an add-on oral therapy to levodopa/Dopa decarboxylase inhibitors regimens (such as carbidopa) — to the list of medications available through the country’s National Health Service (NHS) to Parkinson’s patients experiencing ‘off’ periods. The decision comes more than five…
L-dopa or levodopa, a standard treatment for Parkinson’s disease, forms a stable complex with iron and siderocalin, a protein involved in iron uptake by cells and found at higher levels in a brain region largely affected by Parkinson’s, a study shows. These early findings suggest that the formation…
Experiencing a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with an earlier age of Parkinson’s onset, but not with more severe disease-associated nerve cell loss or younger age of death, a study suggests. These findings, presented at the 2021 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Denver and online, suggest that…
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