News

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) has awarded Casma Therapeutics $370,000 to advance an innovative class of therapies aimed at slowing disease progression. The grant will promote the biotechnology company’s investigation into compounds that activate the calcium channel TRPML1 to accelerate autophagy…

UCB has announced the start of a Phase 1b clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of its therapeutic candidate UCB0599 for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. This multicenter clinical trial will take place across the United States. Current treatments for Parkinson’s, which include…

Vitamin B12 can prevent the formation of and destroy alpha-synuclein aggregates in the brain, lowering their toxicity and potentially helping to alleviate Parkinson’s disease, according to a study. The study, “Vitamin B12 inhibits α-synuclein fibrillogenesis and protects against amyloid-induced cytotoxicity,” was published in the journal…

Chrysin, a chemical commonly found in plants, may ease behavioral, cognitive, and neurochemical changes in Parkinson’s disease, according to a mouse study. The study, “Chrysin protects against behavioral, cognitive and neurochemical alterations in a 6-hydroxydopamine model of Parkinson’s disease,” was published in Neuroscience Letters. Studies…

Measuring the amount of alpha-synuclein in tiny vesicles collected from blood serum may help diagnose early Parkinson’s and identify patients with different types of this disease. The study with that finding, “Central Nervous System-Derived Exosomal Alpha-Synuclein in Serum May Be a Biomarker in Parkinson’s Disease,” was published…

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a Breakthrough Device designation to Amprion’s proprietary technology, Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification (PMCA) — a device that holds the potential to diagnose Parkinson’s disease at a much earlier stage than current diagnostic methods. If approved by the…

The American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA) recently hosted two groups of experts who assessed scientific projects vying for funding, and addressed diversity issues in Parkinson’s disease research and care. The organization met with its scientific advisory board (SAB) to decide which grant projects it will fund for the 2019-2020…

Patients with bipolar disorder appear to have a nearly seven times higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease later in life, according to a nationwide study in Taiwan. The study, “Bipolar disorder and risk of Parkinson disease: A nationwide longitudinal study,” was published in the journal…

Doing high-intensity endurance exercise reduces morning cortisol levels in patients with Parkinson’s disease, which may have an impact on the progression of non-motor signs and symptoms, a pilot study suggests. While other studies are needed to confirm if lowering cortisol with physical exercise works for delaying disease…

Measuring the electric brain activity of people with Parkinson’s may be a non-invasive and accurate way of diagnosing the disease and monitoring response to treatment, a study suggests. The study, “Characteristics of Waveform Shape in Parkinson’s Disease Detected with Scalp Electroencephalography,” was published in the journal eNeuro. The…