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President Obama recently signed into law the $6.3 billion 21st Century Cures Act, giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more leeway to work with pharmaceutical companies and evaluate new treatments, including stem cell therapies. The “Moonshot” bill, named in memory of Vice President Joe Biden’s son Beau, who lost his…

Evotec and Celgene Corporation are collaborating on disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The companies will use Evotec’s induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) platform to develop the treatments. IPSC involves reprogramming body cells to act like embryonic stem cells. The reprogramming gives other cells the ability to…

Researchers used brain stimulation to improve the time-assessment skills of mice whose dopamine  neurotransmitter had been removed, raising the possibility that such stimulation could be used to improve Parkinson’s disease patients’ time judgment. The study, “Optogenetic Stimulation of Frontal D1 Neurons Compensates for Impaired Temporal Control of Action…

Sage Therapeutics has started a Phase 2 clinical trial of its drug candidate SAGE-217 in both mood and movement disorders. The first patients have been dosed with SAGE-217 in the proof-of-concept trial evaluating the drug in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The company also announced it has started recruiting…

Researchers have discovered that midbrain dopamine neurons — the neurons that die in patients with Parkinson’s disease — control how the passage of time is perceived, explaining the inability of Parkinson’s patients to properly judge time. The study, “Midbrain dopamine neurons control judgment of time,” was published…

MeiraGTx will expand its neurodegenerative disease gene therapy pipeline to include Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Recent research has focused on the idea that misfolded proteins play a critical role in damaging neuronal function and progression to neuronal cell death. MeiraGTx’s new program, in partnership with Greg…

Disruption of the brain’s structural network has been identified as the potential underlying mechanism for the onset of mild cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease patients. The study “Structural Brain Connectome and Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease” was published in the journal Radiology. Progressive decline in both motor function and…

Voyager Therapeutics has reported positive interim six- and 12-month data from its ongoing Phase 1b clinical trial, showing that its gene therapy VY-AADC01 was well-tolerated and resulted in clinically relevant outcomes for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD). The Phase 1b open-label clinical trial (NCT01973543), which is…

A point mutation in a gene involved in dopamine synthesis is linked to Parkinson’s disease characteristics but only in younger patients, suggesting that age modifies the impact of the gene. This finding may provide new leads in the search for mechanisms causing Parkinson’s disease, particularly in patients who fall ill at…

Researchers identified a gene that makes cognitive problems much more likely in people with Parkinson’s disease. The findings not only help to explain why some patients develop memory problems, but may also support trials leading to a more personalized treatment approaches. The study, “Specifically neuropathic Gaucher’s mutations accelerate cognitive…