News

Manus Neurodynamica, a medical technology company, has raised £750,000 in a financing round to support the rollout of NeuroMotor Pen, a digital pen with a patented sensor technology to help diagnose at early stages movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease. The funding, worth about $950,000, will also be used to…

A $3.7 million federal grant is funding a project aiming to clarify how exposure to manganese, a trace metal, affects the brain and causes cognitive problems. Findings from this research may help in better understanding Parkinson’s disease. Manganese is an essential nutrient, a mineral that is necessary in…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to review Adamas Pharmaceutical’s application asking that oral Gocovri (amantadine) also be approved to treat off episodes in Parkinson’s disease patients using levodopa. An FDA decision on  the company’s supplemental new drug application (sNDA) is expected by Feb. 1, 2021.

Daily use of Nuplazid (pimavanserin) leads to strong and sustained reductions in the frequency and severity of hallucinations and delusions in people with Parkinson’s disease psychosis, according to data from a long-term extension study. These findings, “Improvement and Durability in SAPS-PD Assessment over 10…

Nuplazid (pimavanserin), an approved therapy for treating hallucinations associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis, is generally safe and well-tolerated in the long run, and may be associated with reduced mortality in this particular patient population, findings from a long-term extension study suggest. The results were presented at the…

The variability and abundance of gut bacteria are associated with several early risk markers of Parkinson’s disease, particularly those related to motor impairments and constipation, study finds. Future studies investigating the impact of gut bacteria composition on the risk of Parkinson’s and on its early manifestations are…

High blood levels of uric acid, a powerful antioxidant, are linked to an increased risk of levodopa-induced dyskinesia in men with Parkinson’s disease, study finds. The study, “Sex-specific association of urate and levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease,” was published in the European Journal of…

Most people with late-stage Parkinson’s disease showed benefit from continued treatment with subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) in a small study in Italy. The researchers also provided an algorithm intended to help guide treatment decisions for those with late-stage disease. Their study, “Should We Consider Deep…

People carrying gene variants that lower leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) levels — an enzyme whose mutated form is one of the most common genetic causes of Parkinson’s disease — live as long as those without such variants, and show no related lung, liver or kidney damage, results of a large genetic study…

Two compounds with hormone-like effects — prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) and prostaglandin A1 (PGA1) — may help to increase dopamine levels in the brain and slow Parkinson’s progression by activating a protein, called Nurr1, that supports dopaminergic neurons, a study reports. The study, “…