News

Spinal anesthesia may be safer than general anesthesia for people with Parkinson’s disease undergoing surgery, causing fewer post-operative complications, including a risk of death, a small study suggests. The study, “Spinal versus General Anesthesia for Patients with Parkinson’s Disease,” was published in the International Journal of General…

Two Louisiana Tech University biomedical engineering students designed a wearable medical device that can track and classify Parkinson’s disease tremors and their severity.  Julie Gaudin and Elizabeth Hummel created the Tremor Tracker, a smart watch-like device that captures and immediately conveys information about body…

A three-year project in Europe seeks to develop nanodevices that could be used as brain implants to treat neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. The European Commission is funding the 3-million euro ($3.3-million) project, called Ion Neuromodulation for Epilepsy Treatment (IN-FET), which aims to create new implantable…

Alkahest announced the dosing of a first patient in the Phase 2 trial for its Parkinson’s therapy AKST4290, an oral tablet aiming to ease the inflammation that can aggravate disease symptoms. The efficacy and safety trial, called AKST4290-211 or TEAL (2019-001657-42), will measure AKST4290’s benefits in motor function and…

A collaborative effort between Fuzionaire Diagnostics, McGill University and The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) will foster the development of a new class of radioactive molecules — called radiochemicals — for the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. Radiochemicals are compounds prepared with…

Aptinyx‘s investigational oral compound NYX-458 was able to ease cognitive difficulties in a non-human primate model of Parkinson’s disease, including attention, working memory and executive thinking, a study reports. Its findings also suggest that NYX-458 — now in a Phase 2 clinical trial (NCT04148391) enrolling patients across…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) clearance to Qynapse‘s QyScore, a software that aids in analyzing brain scans taken by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The software, which is compatible with routine imaging workflows, includes an advanced user interface and automatically-generated patient reports.

VistaGen Therapeutics will begin a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate its lead candidate AV-101 as a potential treatment to reduce dyskinesia (abnormal involuntary movements) induced by levodopa in patients with Parkinson’s disease, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the company’s investigational new…

The first three winners of the Parkinson’s Foundation’s new Physical Therapy Faculty Award will use their up to $10,000 grant for projects aimed at putting exercise to work in improving patients’ lives. The program underscores an increasing need, as more patients live longer, for physical therapists trained in Parkinson’s.

High levels of urate in the blood may help preserve dopamine-producing neurons and be used as a biomarker of positive outcomes in men newly-diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a study says. The study, “Sex dependent association of urate on the patterns of striatal dopamine depletion in…