Patricia Inácio, PhD, science writer —

Biotech company Innervace — a spinoff from the University of Pennsylvania — has raised up to $40 million to support the development of its novel regenerative cell therapy platform for Parkinson’s disease. Innervace’s cell therapy platform specifically aims to create implantable tissue to replace the lost neuronal circuits…

A protein “traffic jam” inside nerve cells promotes the buildup of shorter and toxic tau — a protein that forms toxic aggregates in Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative disorders — according to a new study using fruit flies and mammalian cell lines. The accumulation of toxic tau resulted in fewer connections…

AC Immune will use a new $500,000 grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to advance the development of its ACI-12589 positron emission tomography (PET) scan tracer for the detection of alpha-synuclein protein — whose damaging clumps are a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. The…

SynAgile announced the completion of a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating DopaFuse, its noninvasive system for the continuous oral delivery of levodopa/carbidopa to people with Parkinson’s disease. Sixteen adults being treated with levodopa/carbidopa (LD/CD) in a tablet form were enrolled in the open-label study into the safety and tolerability…

Amneal Pharmaceuticals is seeking U.S. approval of IPX-203, its extended-release carbidopa-levodopa (CD/LD) tablets, for Parkinson’s disease. The company submitted an Investigational New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is based on top-line data from the Phase 3 RISE-PD clinical trial that showed IPX-203…

In a webinar hosted by AC Immune, scientists discussed the various advantages of vaccines — ranging from their expected safety and long-lasting immune responses to potentially lower costs — in treating and possibly preventing Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. The “Key Opinion Leader” webinar, broadcasted on Aug.

The University of Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre is working with Metabolon to identify metabolic biomarkers of Parkinson’s risk and progression that could lead to tailored disease treatments and better patient care. “Metabolon’s highly accurate data will enable the identification of metabolomic biomarkers crucial to understanding and better predicting…

Note: This story was updated Aug. 18, 2022, to reflect researchers awarded The Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award will receive a total maximum grant of $300,000 over three years.  The Parkinson’s Foundation announced it is investing $5.7 million across 33 research grants as part of its commitment to speed innovative…

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine will use a $9 million grant to generate a detailed map of the “gut-brain axis,” the complex communication route between brain and belly — focusing on the gut microbiome — that is increasingly thought to play a key role in Parkinson’s and other…

An older age at diagnosis, but also reduced physical activity due to medical or social conditions, were significantly linked with faster motor decline in people with  Parkinson’s disease, a Japanese study has found. According to its authors, maintaining daily physical activity and allowing patients to move freely is paramount…