Bob and Cecily Harmon

The news of a Parkinson’s diagnosis can be very alarming. Team Fox member and mentor Bob Harmon recalls March 3, 2006 as the “day the earth stood still.” For two years prior, Bob noticed changes in his motor and walking skills: a tremor in his right hand that eventually made eating near impossible, and a gait he thought was associated with old age. As shocked as he was when his neurologist confirmed a Parkinson’s diagnosis, Bob was able to put things in perspective with the help of his wife, Cecily. She simply responded, “Thank God it’s not something that will kill you in 90 days.” Continue reading “Bob Harmon and Family: Turning a Parkinson’s Diagnosis into Action” »

WebMD is reporting on a potential blood test (a.k.a. biomarker) for Parkinson’s disease. According to our own VP of Research Programs Mark Frasier, it’s still early days and the finding requires replication – but it looks promising. The work was carried out by Robert Nagele of Durin Technologies and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine. The Michael J. Fox Foundation is supporting a follow-up study to verify these results in a different population of Parkinson’s disease patients. Read an excerpt of WebMD’s report after the jump.  Continue reading “New Blood Test That Could Diagnose Parkinson’s Is Being Studied” »

Yesterday the Chicago Tribune profiled Delores Slezak, a nurse in Illinois, and her decision to participate in the Parkinson’s Progression Marker’s Initiative (PPMI), MJFF’s landmark Parkinson’s biomarkers clinical study.  Read on to find out more about the work being done at Northwestern University from site principal investigator Dr. Tanya Simuni, and the CEO of MJFF, Dr. Todd Sherer.

Visit www.michaeljfox.org/living_PPMI.cfm to find out more about PPMI and the search for a biomarker for PD.

This week, the MJFF research staff reflected on some of the projects they worked on in 2011 that they believe could have the greatest impact on the Parkinson’s disease (PD) patient community.  Read on to find out directly from Foundation team members about some of the work being done to speed progress toward a cure.

“I’m enthusiastic about the progress made in 2011 on PPMI.  The study has now enrolled over 280 individuals to participate in the study, and data have been already downloaded more than 4,000 times by scientists in the research community at large to conduct independent studies toward verifying biomarkers for PD.   MJFF also helped make a specific lab test available to researchers that could help to measure the protein alpha-synuclein as a potential biomarker for the disease – a huge step forward.  Thanks to such advancements, I am hopeful that PPMI will in the future have a major impact on drug development for PD, tangibly benefiting those living with the disease.” – Mark Frasier, PhD, director of research programs

Continue reading “MJFF Research Staff Reflects on Some of 2011′s Big Impact Projects” »

On December 6, Mark Frasier and Ken Marek from the Institute of Neurodegenerative Disorders led a discussion about biomarkers and PPMI.
Listen to that call:

In the fall 2011 issue of our newsletter, Accelerating the Cure, Nate Herpich, MJFF’s associate director of research communications, provided updates on some of our funding, including: drug repositioning, a potential PD vaccine and PPMI. Check out the newsbriefs below or click here to read the rest of the fall issue.

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RESEARCH NEWSBRIEFS

Reducing the Drug Development Timeline: Repositioning RFA

Over the past year, The Michael J. Fox Foundation has ramped up its interest in repositioning. This is the process of testing a drug that is already FDA-approved or that has been proven safe in a clinical trial for a certain indication, to determine whether the drug might be efficacious in the treatment of another therapeutic area, like Parkinson’s disease (PD). “Repositioning can drastically reduce the timeline for getting a drug into clinical testing for PD, making an impact on patients’ lives that much sooner,” says Kuldip Dave, PhD, associate director of research programs at MJFF.

While MJFF has supported repositioning projects before, its first-ever repositioning specific Request for Applications (RFA) launched in fall 2010. MJFF announced the results of this RFA in July: six researchers with awards totaling $2.4 million. Three additional awards were granted in August through other programs, bringing the total funding for repositioning to $3.4 million. Several of the research teams are working with drugs that could offer protection to the brain cells that die in Parkinson’s disease, including a tuberculosis vaccine and the antidepressant duloxetine (marketed as Cymbalta). Others are testing symptomatic therapies, including a compound used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

A Potential Vaccine to Slow Parkinson’s Disease Progression

This summer, MJFF awarded funding for a first-of-its-kind therapeutic approach to Parkinson’s disease: a vaccine targeting alpha-synuclein, a protein implicated in Parkinson’s disease. The vaccine aims to slow or stop the progression of Parkinson’s, something no current treatment can do.

Vienna, Austria-based company AFFiRiS AG will conduct a clinical study of the safety and efficacy of its vaccine candidate PD01. The hope is that this agent will simulate the production of antibodies that bind to alpha-synuclein, clearing it from the brain and slowing disease progression. Alpha-synuclein is a high-priority target for MJFF, largely because there is compelling evidence that it may play a role in both genetic and idiopathic cases of PD. It is also the major component in the Lewy bodies that are the pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s.

The trial, led by AFFiRiS chief medical officer Achim Schneeberger, MD, will engage 24 subjects with mild Parkinson’s disease over two years at a single clinical site in Austria. “Cautious optimism is called for,” says Jamie Eberling, PhD, MJFF’s associate director of research programs, “but it’s important to bear in mind that PD01 is still in the early stages of clinical testing.”

On the Path to Finding Biomarkers: PPMI Update

Since MJFF launched the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) more than a year ago, the project has grown in scope, and it continues to expand its presence across the United States and Europe. Nine industry funders, including leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies, have partnered with MJFF to support this work, and researchers and clinicians across the world have begun to analyze the data and biological samples that could unlock clues to the onset and progression of Parkinson’s disease. In a move to make PPMI a truly global study, in August MJFF announced a collaboration with the Shake It Up Foundation Australia to bring PPMI down under, increasing our chances to quickly identify universally relevant biomarkers.

Of 21 planned clinical sites in the United States and Europe, 19 are now active, with two more in the EU set to begin enrolling participants soon. 179 individuals are actively enrolled at PPMI sites, including 101 newly diagnosed PD participants, and 78 control participants who do not have PD. Another 45 volunteers are pending enrollment. Samples and data collected in PPMI are available to the scientific community at large in real time for promising biomarker validation studies. Scientists using the initiative’s resources agree to report back to PPMI with findings and data, enabling future researchers to build on their work to help speed promising PD biomarker validation efforts worldwide.

You, too, can help with these efforts. PPMI continues to recruit and must find at least 400 people who are newly diagnosed with PD, and 200 controls. If you or someone you know might want to participate in PPMI, visit www.michaeljfox.org/PPMI to learn more about our study and find the nearest site.

Erika Forte is a control participant in PPMI, the Foundation’s landmark clinical study to identify biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease progression. She enrolled in the study for her husband, Michael, who was diagnosed with PD in 1997. We featured her in the fall 2011 issue of our newsletter, Accelerating the Cure. Read the profile below or click here to check out the entire fall issue.

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Erika Forte, one of the first control participants to sign up for PPMI, was featured in the fall 2010 issue of Accelerating the Cure. One year later, Nate Herpich checks back in with Erika to see how things are going.

Erika’s husband, Michael, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in 1997 at age 43. In the years following his diagnosis, the Fortes were often told that Parkinson’s research was on the cusp of a breakthrough, in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Then, in 2006, Michael underwent deep brain stimulation (DBS), which has made a significant difference for him. Erika decided that she wanted to help to further research so that other people with Parkinson’s will have even better options for treatment.

“We’ve developed a close relationship with the doctors at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders (IND) in New Haven,” Erika says. “The doctors there are also Michael’s doctors, and they have become special people to us.”

Many of the tests she takes for PPMI are familiar — she’s seen Michael undergo the same ones during his visits to IND. She finds the smell test fascinating, and admits that, at 57, the memory test is the most stressful for her.

The tight-knit community at IND has helped to make her participation in PPMI a positive one. The staff there, she said, has been very accommodating, working around her busy schedule as a principal at a school for students with serious social, emotional and behavioral issues. Next month, the group of PPMI participants at IND is getting together for Sunday brunch to share their experiences in the study.

Michael and Erika are doing well. This past summer, the couple celebrated their 35^th wedding anniversary. Michael has adjusted to life after retirement, and is chairman of the board of directors at IND. For the Fortes, it’s about finding the right balance in their lives. “We’ve figured out the best way for us to do things,” said Erika. “We’re able to take a step back and really assess what’s important, instead of just going, going, going all the time.”

Recently, the IND staff gave Erika a signed copy of Michael J. Fox’s second book, Always Looking Up, to thank her for volunteering for PPMI. Fox’s attitude, she said, embodies her own, and that of her husband.

“Sure, there are struggles. There are things we can do, and things we can’t. But at the end of the day, we are luckier than most.”