News

Eisai Expanding Research Into Parkinson’s Biomarkers, Treatments

Eisai is collaborating with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in research into new treatments for Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The Japan-based pharmaceutical company’s aim is to meld the expertise of Washington University’s investigators in basic and clinical research for such disorders with its…

Incidence of Parkinson’s in US More Than Previously Estimated

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…

Gene Therapy SLS-004 Prevents Neurodegeneration In Mouse Model

SLS-004, Seelos Therapeutics‘ investigational gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease, lowered alpha-synuclein levels and prevented the degeneration of dopamine-producing, or dopaminergic, neurons in a mouse model of the disease, the company announced. A hallmark of the neurodegenerative disease, the loss of dopaminergic neurons in a brain region called the…

Trial of Mesdopetam for Levodopa-induced Dyskinesia Nears End

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, HitGen Join to Discover Potential of Nitrase Enzymes

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…

Deferiprone Found to Worsen, Not Ease Symptoms in Phase 2 Trial

Deferiprone, an iron chelator (binder) therapy, does not slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease in newly diagnosed patients who have never received treatment, according to data from a Phase 2 clinical trial. Instead, after about nine months of treatment in these patients, deferiprone was associated with a worsening of…