News

Providing emotional support is a key part of a genetic counselor’s role — but many people with Parkinson’s disease are not aware of this and don’t expect emotional support from genetic counselors, even if this kind of assistance would be welcome. That’s according to a new study from the…

Adding Cerevance’s investigational oral therapy solengepras (CVN424) to standard Parkinson’s disease treatment significantly decreased off time, when symptoms return or worsen, according to the data from a completed Phase 2 trial. The trial met its main efficacy goal, with a reduction in average off time at the…

A rapid release of the chemical messenger dopamine in the brain is not needed for initiating movement, while it’s important for motivation and reward-seeking behaviors, according to a study in mice. If these findings hold true in patients, they may help in explaining why levodopa or L-DOPA, a mainstay treatment,…

A process known as SUMOylation plays an important role in the so-called waking up of neural stem cells, a type of cell in the brain that can self-renew and mature into nerve cells, according to a new study in fruit flies by an international team of researchers led by Duke-NUS…

A specific population of nerve cells in the brain that helps to regulate REM sleep may be a key target for treating Parkinson’s disease, a study demonstrates. REM (rapid eye movement) is the stage of sleep where the most dreaming occurs, with its other three stages classified as either…

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) announced an initiative to accelerate the identification of biomarkers and the development of new therapies targeting the LRRK2 gene, one of the most common causes of inherited Parkinson’s disease. The program, LRRK2 Investigative Therapeutics Exchange, or LITE, provides “tens…

The American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA) is funding a new APDA Center for Advanced Research at Yale University’s School of Medicine, the newest of nine such centers in its U.S. network, in recognition of the school’s work into the causes and the potential for personalized treatment of Parkinson’s…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved foslevodopa and foscarbidopa, a levodopa therapy given as a 24-hour under-the-skin infusion, to treat motor fluctuations in adults with advanced Parkinson’s disease. The newly approved therapy, which had been known as ABBV-951 while in development, will be sold by…

Fatigue is the most common complaint among people with Parkinson’s disease, according to anecdotal data from a free app that allows patients or caregivers to complete daily check-ins and rate how they feel. In the nine months since the launch of Parkinson’s On, more than 2,500 patients and caregivers…

Allyx Therapeutics has received a $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate the interaction of its investigational oral therapy ALX-001 with other medications and assess how the drug can affect patients who take multiple medications. The grant,…