News

The U.S. Department of Defense has granted $4 million in funding to support an investigation by U.S. researchers into the underlying factors contributing to the increased risk of Parkinson’s disease in people who experience sleep disturbances and post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD. The focus for the researchers is…

As people age, the immune system ages with them, becoming more sluggish and ineffective — a change that could contribute to Parkinson’s disease, Rebecca Wallings, a 2024 Parkinson’s Foundation Launch Award grant recipient, suggests. “As you age … your immune cells can become exhausted … slow, sluggish, and…

A study found a link between the likely presence of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) in people with Parkinson’s disease and greater frequency and severity of other nonmotor symptoms (NMS) that characterize the neurodegenerative disease. The researchers said the results link RBD to a Parkinson’s subtype called…

Despite an accuracy rate of 91% in diagnosing Parkinson’s disease, misdiagnoses still occur in the clinic, particularly with Lewy body dementia being mistaken for Parkinson’s — the two share some symptoms — or people with Parkinson’s being incorrectly told they have Alzheimer’s disease, researchers report. “The findings of…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Onapgo (apomorphine hydrochloride) for the continuous treatment of motor fluctuations in adults with advanced Parkinson’s disease, making it the first subcutaneous, or under-the-skin, apomorphine infusion device approved for this indication. The application from Supernus Pharmaceuticals was the developer’s fourth…

Jupiter Neurosciences said it’s planning a Phase 2a clinical trial to test Jotrol, the company’s oral formulation of resveratrol, as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, in partnership with Zina Biopharmaceuticals. Zina will assist with aspects of the trial protocol, such as identifying biomarkers and selecting sites for the…

A dopamine transporter scan — an exam that visualizes dopaminergic neurons, the nerve cells that are affected in Parkinson’s disease — may help in predicting which patients are at risk of aspiration, when food or liquid enters the lungs instead of the stomach. Dysphagia, which happens when Parkinson’s…

Ncardia has launched a human-derived microglia cell model, called Ncyte Microglia, that the company says may help advance research in Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions — and which may be a tool in the development of new therapies. Microglia are resident immune cells in the brain that…

Parkinson’s disease patients saw an average increase of more than four hours in the duration of their symptom control, without the presence of dyskinesia, with a consistent supply of A-dopamine directly to their brain, according to a small Phase 1/2 clinical study. DIVE-I (NCT04332276) tested how safe A-dopamine, a…

Creative arts therapy, or an expressive therapeutic approach that engages people in various creative activities, can reduce anxiety in individuals with Parkinson’s disease and improve their well-being — while potentially lessening their need for healthcare services — according to the results of a small pilot study conducted in Europe.