Lying down and sleeping seems like such a natural thing to do. I remember when one of my mother’s caregivers said to me, “I finally got your mother to lie down.” What? My mother didn’t know how to lie down? It’s true: Dementia had robbed her of that seemingly straightforward part of her bedtime routine. After I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015, I wasn’t the best sleeper. I would usually wake up in the middle of the night with tremors and worry for a few hours, then finally fall back to sleep about 20 minutes before my alarm went off. Sleep hasn’t been an issue since my deep brai ..read more

The Parkinson’s Foundation has joined forces with Tasso — a U.S. company that offers a sample collection and logistics platform for clinical trials — to accelerate genetic research into the underpinnings of Parkinson’s disease. The collaboration will harness Tasso’s patient-friendly blood collection technology to acquire small blood samples as part of PD GENEration, a large study offering Parkinson’s patients free genetic testing, along with genetic counseling to help them understand the results.  That study (NCT04057794), which was launched in 2019, tests for mutations in selected clini ..read more

Six months of daily tavapadon, as an oral add-on therapy to standard levodopa, significantly increased on time without troublesome dyskinesia, or involuntary body movements, in people in the late stages of Parkinson’s disease, according to top-line data from a Phase 3 study. Data from the trial, dubbed TEMPO-3 (NCT04542499), will be presented at a future medical meeting and support approval submissions to regulatory authorities, the therapy’s developer, Cerevel Therapeutics, announced in a company press release. Tavapadon is also being tested as a single therapy in early-stage Parkinson’s in ..read more

A three-week ketogenic diet, one low in carbohydrates and high in fat, supplemented with a specific type of fat — called medium chain triglycerides — showed no significant benefits in easing motor symptoms in a small group of people with Parkinson’s disease, a pilot trial has found. Whether this diet may improve cognition or slow disease progression “requires further study,” researchers wrote in the study “A randomized feasibility trial of medium chain triglyceride-supplemented ketogenic diet in people with Parkinson’s disease,” which was published in the journal BMC Neurology. Parkinson’s di ..read more

I was watching my youngest daughter’s high school lacrosse game the other night and commented to my wife, “She’s seeing the field really well right now.” We talked a bit about how it’s obvious, from a spectator’s perspective, when our kids are bringing their A-game and are engaged and anticipating the action. It’s fun to watch. Even better, it’s fun to be with our daughter after the game when she knows that she competed and made smart plays — especially on nights when she had great field vision and a special level of awareness of the game and the players. Meanwhile, over the past week or so ..read more

A Phase 1/2 clinical trial dubbed ASPIRO that’s testing Aspen Neuroscience’s ANPD001 — a stem cell therapy candidate designed to replace the nerve cells that are lost in Parkinson’s disease — has dosed its first patient. A first transplant was conducted at the Banner-University Medical Center Tucson by neurosurgeon Paul Larson, MD, the trial’s lead investigator, Aspen announced in a company press release ASPIRO (NCT06344026), which was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year, is testing the long-term safety and tolerability of the ANPD001 stem cell therapy when transp ..read more

Sage Therapeutics’ dalzanemdor, formerly known as SAGE-718, an investigational oral medication for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Parkinson’s disease, has failed to outperform a placebo in a Phase 2 study. Based on these top-line data from the trial, called PRECEDENT (NCT05318937), Sage will stop any further development of dalzanemdor for Parkinson’s. “We are disappointed by the results of the Phase 2 PRECEDENT study given the significant burden of mild cognitive impairment on people and families affected by Parkinson’s Disease,” Barry Greene, Sage’s CEO, said in a company press relea ..read more

Updated exercise guidelines for those with Parkinson’s disease released by The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) now include Nordic pole walking as a suggested aerobic activity to help mitigate symptoms and improve everyday life. The exercise, a Finnish-derived low-impact total body walk, is also known as urban poling, which is also the name of the Toronto-based company that distributes the “Activator Poles” that can be used with such walks. According to Urban Poling, using the poles can improve gait, increase the user’s base of support, and provide extra stability to reduce the risk of a ..read more

The estate of a longtime supporter of the Norton Neuroscience Institute at Norton Healthcare has gifted the center $20 million to help expand programming and research in Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. The donation from the estate of Elizabeth Pahk Cressman, MD, PhD, will aid the Louisville, Kentucky-based institute’s Just Imagine growth campaign, which seeks to “further transform and improve complex neurological care” to meet a burgeoning demand, according to a Norton Healthcare press release. The gift will help ensure better access to medical expertise and expand inno ..read more

Three biobehavioral scientists at Teachers College (TC), Columbia University are working on separate collaborative efforts in exercise, speech, and swallowing among Parkinson’s patients to potentially improve quality of life for the more than 10 million people estimated globally to be living with the progressive neurodegenerative disease. In honor of this year’s Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month, observed each April, the New York-based graduate school of education, health, and psychology is highlighting the work of three of its researchers: Gemma Moya-Galé, PhD, Michelle Troche, PhD, and Lo ..read more