This week, research published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, found that a nicotine patch may improve the memory loss common in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition that is often a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease.  Sixty-seven people completed the study which took place over six months, and according to lead investigator Paul Newhouse, MD, of Vanderbilt University, improvements were seen in attention, memory, and cognitive impairment.

This positive result could have implications for people with various neurological diseases, including Parkinson’s.  To date, there has been widespread epidemiological data to suggest a protective effect in nicotine for PD: the disease is less prevalent among smokers as compared to non-smokers, and early results from pre-clinical studies have shown potential therapeutic benefits.

MJFF is funding a clinical study set to begin this spring called NIC-PD that will begin to look into the disease modifying potential of a nicotine patch, as well as its potential effects on the non-motor and in particular, cognitive features of PD.  The study will engage more than 150 people across more than 20 sites in the U.S. and Germany.  Clinicians will assign either nicotine or placebo patches to the participants over a 12 month period to determine efficacy against the disease.

While the recent study results on MCI are encouraging, it is important to note the relatively small scale nature of the study, and that the use of nicotine patches as a treatment for any neurological disease is still in the early stages of investigation.

This fall, The FDA recommended that Teva Neuroscience’s drug rasagiline, brand name Azilect, should not be granted status “to slow the clinical progression of PD.”  In this podcast, Dave Iverson speaks with MJFF’s Brian Fiske about what this recommendation could mean for those living with PD.

Teva Seeks Label Change for Azilect

To read more about the FDA’s recommendation, check out this Fox Foundation News in Context with Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) Principal Investigator Dr. Ken Marek.

Today, MJFF awardee ProteoTech, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, announced a funding agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (China) R&D Company Limited (GSK) to collaborate on ProteoTech’s therapeutic program targeting alpha-synuclein, whose clumping is the pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD).

ProteoTech is the latest Foundation awardee to have announced follow-on funding deals with big pharma and venture capital firms, proving that early investment at the pre-clinical research stage does in fact expand investment in PD drug development, which in turn can accelerate promising targets to the clinic.  Other MJFF awardees to announce additional funding deals this fall include AFFiRiS, Signum BioSciences, and Sapiens Pharmaceuticals.

ProteoTech’s alpha-synuclein therapeutic research program was provided over a four-year period from 2005 to 2009 by MJFF through a $3.1 million grant under the Foundation’s Linked Efforts to Accelerate Parkinson’s Solutions (LEAPS) program. LEAPS provides multi-year, multi-million-dollar awards to help de-risk industry investment in PD, speeding progress toward treatment breakthroughs that will tangibly benefit the millions living with the disease. With MJFF funding, ProteoTech developed several promising small molecule compounds, one of which has been shown to reduce alpha-synuclein aggregates in the brains of a pre-clinical model of PD.  Additional pre-clinical studies are ongoing, as researchers work to fully understand the compound’s mechanism of action ahead of anticipated clinical trials.

Read more about AFFiRiS’ MJFF-funded work on a Parkinson’s disease vaccine

Read more about Signum BioSciences’ MJFF award targeting alpha-synuclein

Read more about Sapiens’ MJFF-funded study on Deep Brain Stimulation

This past October, Austrian biotech AFFiRiS announced $1.5 million in funding from MJFF for an early stage clinical trial of a first-of-its-kind vaccine approach to treating Parkinson’s disease (PD), called PD01.  Then, in November, the company announced 30 million Euros in additional funding from two investors to develop its portfolio of PD and Alzheimer’s vaccines.

In this podcast, Dave Iverson speaks with AFFiRiS’ Chief Medical Officer Achim Schneeberger about  PD01, and how it could work to break up the clumps of the protein alpha-synuclein that occur in the brains of those with PD.  The hope is that, in so doing, the treatment could modify the course of the disease itself.

A PD Vaccine Approach

In this first edition of “The Sherer Report,” which will become an ongoing series, Todd Sherer, PhD, MJFF CEO, highlights recent developments in three of the Foundation’s high-priority research areas, which hold clear implications for those living with PD today.

New Approaches to Treat Symptoms

Many of the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s result from a decrease in dopamine, a brain chemical that helps control movement, balance and walking. For the last 40 years, nearly every treatment for PD, including the currently available medications Sinemet, Mirapex, Azilect and Stalevo, have focused on attempting to replace this lost dopamine.

However, new lines of research are developing PD treatments based on different mechanisms that target brain chemicals other than dopamine. These approaches could replace or supplement existing therapies, limiting side effects such as dyskinesias, the uncontrollable movements that are a common side effect of existing PD drugs, while targeting some of the currently untreated symptoms of PD. Continue reading “The Sherer Report” »