Patricia Inácio, PhD, science writer —

Prevail Therapeutics will soon start its Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating the safety, tolerability, and early efficacy of its one-time gene therapy — called PR001 — for Parkinson’s disease associated with mutations in the GBA1 gene. The trial is expected to enroll up to 16 people with confirmed GBA1…

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Kyowa Kirin’s Nourianz (istradefylline) tablets as an add-on therapy to treat off periods in Parkinson’s disease patients on a carbidopa/levodopa regimen. Off periods — when the effects of a medication wear off before a new dose can be…

Rescuing the activity of neurons in the subthalamic nucleus — part of a brain region that controls movement — lessens motor dysfunction in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease (PD), according to a recent study. The “study argues that the loss of this intrinsic activity promotes abnormal synchronization and…

The largest dataset ever compiled on Parkinson’s disease research — equivalent to 47.5 billion single-spaced typed pages — is now available to scientists, and can be used to investigate genetic changes over time in people with the neurodegenerative disorder. Funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the “Parkinson’s…

A scientist at the University of Sheffield in England has been awarded a £100,000 grant by Parkinson’s UK to develop a treatment that might slow or stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease and protect brain cells. The one-year grant, worth about $120,000, was given to Heather Mortiboys, a…

Scientist Wenquan Zou, MD, PhD, has received a two-year grant to develop a non-invasive skin test for diagnosing Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders. Diagnosing these disorders currently requires invasive analysis, either by imaging brain tissue or analyzing the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) — the…

The Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s Tissue Bank at Imperial College London, is the largest repository of brain and spinal cord tissue samples in Europe. Now, the MS Society and Parkinson’s UK has announced a £3 million grant (about $3.6 million) to support its transition into a…

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) — an arm of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) — is recommending that Inbrija, by Acorda Therapeutics, be approved to treat off periods in Parkinson’s patients on a carbidopa/levodopa regimen. The European Commission will review CHMP’s positive…

Therapies against motor loss and progression in Parkinson’s’ disease (PD) may need to tackle the imbalance between two neurotransmitters, dopamine and acetylcholine, instead of focusing on dopamine alone, an early study suggests. The study, “Dopamine Deficiency Reduces Striatal Cholinergic Interneuron Function in Models of Parkinson’s Disease,” was published…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted Neurocrine Biosciences’ new drug application for opicapone as a potential add-on therapy to levodopa/carbidopa for Parkinson’s disease. The FDA has set a 12-month review process, with a decision expected by April 26, 2020. If approved, the FDA will…