News

A new Phase 2 clinical trial will test the psychedelic painkiller ketamine as a treatment for levodopa-induced dyskinesia in people with Parkinson’s disease. The trial, called KET-LID (NCT04912115), is expected to start enrolling participants this month. The first results are expected by the end of the year. Launched by …

Amprion has announced the commercial rollout of SYNTap Biomarker Test, a laboratory test to accurately detect alpha-synuclein aggregates, a hallmark of various brain diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. Alpha-synuclein, a protein, can misfold and accumulate (aggregate) in toxic clumps called Lewy bodies, leading to the death of nerve…

A Phase 1 trial of AP-472, Appello Pharmaceutical‘s lead investigational therapy to ease levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease, has started dosing healthy adults. The study will randomly assign young, middle-aged, and elderly adults to escalating doses of AP-472 or a placebo. It aims to evaluate the therapy’s safety, tolerability, and…

A medical student at the University of Queensland has won a U.S. Parkinson’s Foundation fellowship to investigate new ways to halt chronic brain inflammation and the death of dopamine-producing neurons in Parkinson’s disease. Zhen-Yi Andy Ou was awarded one of 11 fellowships for the project “Targeting novel…

Once-a-day treatment with oral ANVS401 was found to significantly improve motor skills among Parkinson’s disease patients in a Phase 2a clinical trial. Annovis Bio, the company developing ANVS401, is now planning to meet with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discuss possibly initiating larger Phase 3 studies. “We…

Vanqua Bio has raised $85 million in funding to accelerate the development of its small molecule technology platform for treating neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Led by Omega Funds, the Series B financing will advance the research of Dimitri Krainc, MD, PhD, of Northwestern University, an…

Intrance Medical Systems has raised $8 million to support a planned U.S. clinical trial of its fixed-dose combination of levodopa, carbidopa, and entacapone in advanced Parkinson’s disease patients. The combo therapy, originally developed by Lobsor Pharmaceuticals and sold under the name Lecigon in Nordic countries —  Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and their…

Treatment with an investigational medicine called SBT-272 markedly eased signs of Parkinson’s disease in a mouse model, according to its developer Stealth BioTherapeutics. “We are excited about the promise of SBT-272 as a potential therapeutic for neurodegenerative diseases,” Reenie McCarthy, the CEO of Stealth, said in a…

Enrollment of Parkinson’s patients has begun in a clinical trial seeking to determine whether high-intensity endurance treadmill exercise can slow progression in people with early-stage disease who have not begun taking Parkinson’s medications. Called a Study in Parkinson Disease of Exercise, or SPARX3 (NCT04284436), the Northwestern University-sponsored clinical trial…

The spread of alpha-synuclein aggregates in the brain is dependent on a protein receptor called TLR2, and also a transcription factor called NF-KB, a study indicates. Blocking these proteins — which may be done with medications inhaled through the nose — may be a useful therapeutic approach in Parkinson’s…