News

CVT-301, an inhalable drug under development by Acorda Therapeutics to treat Parkinson’s symptoms during “off” periods when currently available drugs don’t adequately work, showed promising results in preclinical Phase 1 and 2 studies. Since the late 1960s, levodopa has been the most common and efficient oral drug used for managing Parkinson’s motor…

Growblox Sciences has filed the first of several likely patent applications for cannabis-based compounds developed by Growblox Life Sciences, its wholly owned subsidiary. The application applies to pharmaceutical-grade mixtures that might be used to treat patients with neurodegeneration, especially those with Parkinson’s disease. Growblox Life Sciences is focused on researching and developing cannabis-based medicines.  The company uses various…

Researchers using a new system with real-time imaging to guide transplants of neurons into the brains of non-human primate models with Parkinson’s Disease not only allowed better oversight of the procedure, but also improved cell survival. The research report, “Real-Time Intraoperative MRI Intracerebral Delivery of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neurons,” published in…

Treating Parkinson’s disease patients with high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on both sides of the brain’s motor cortex improves bradykinesia (slow movement) and rigidity, according to a clinical trial analysis presented at the Fourth World Parkinson Congress, in Portland, Ore. The finding resulted from the analysis of a subset of patients from…

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine report their discovery that a protein called LAG3 acts as an enabler for a toxic natural aggregate to spread from cell to cell in the brains of mammals causing Parkinson’s disease development, and also of a means of blocking that protein’s…

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) has awarded a research grant to Asceneuron to develop small molecules with the potential to treat dementia related to Parkinson’s disease. The grant, in an unspecified amount, from the MJFF Therapeutic Pipeline Program will: Support the further development of M1 PAMs (positive allosteric modulators of the…

The key factor that deals the final death blow to nerve cells exposed to all sorts of injuries, including neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease, has been identified. The factor’s finding, and the molecular pathway leading to its activation, may open up new research into ways of stopping or mitigating such events and preserving neurons.

Researchers have synthesized two compounds that resemble caffeine and prevent the misfolding of alpha-synuclein — the culprit of neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease. These compounds were shown to effectively prevent the cells from dying. The findings by researchers from University of Saskatchewan in Canada advance the understanding of processes that…

People carrying the most common Parkinson’s disease-related mutation in the LRRK2 gene may start showing symptoms at an earlier age if they also have a mutation in another gene. The findings prompted researchers to suggest that tests for this newly identified mutation could be valuable for genetic counseling of LRRK2…

Researchers have developed a new “cell-free” approach — one derived from stem cells — that may treat Parkinson’s disease while avoiding the immune system risks of other stem cell therapies, according to two studies conducted by researcher Leo Behie, from the University of Calgary, in Canada, and collaborators in Portugal. The newly developed…