While levodopa is the gold standard therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD), current delivery methods have their limitations. Many patients who take it experience “off” periods, when the medication’s effects wear off before they are ready to take their next dose, leaving them in a state where symptoms like lack of mobility may return.  Those taking levodopa also risk developing dyskinesias, the excessive and uncontrollable movements that are among the most difficult aspects of the disease to manage.

But finding a more consistent method of delivering levodopa could help to minimize both “off” periods and dyskinesias alike. Continue reading “Podcast: Limiting On-Off Periods in Parkinson’s Medications” »

One of The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s priorities is to develop a therapy to address the challenges in how levodopa, the gold standard therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD), is delivered into the body.  Many patients who take the drug experience “off” periods, when the effects of the medication wear off before they are ready to take their next dose, leaving them in a state where symptoms like lack of mobility may return.  Finding a more consistent method of delivering levodopa could help to minimize these periods, and is therefore one of the critical unmet needs for those living with PD. Continue reading “Foundation Awardees Explore Improved Methods of Delivering Levodopa to Treat Parkinson’s” »

Dyskinesia refers to the excessive and uncontrollable movements that are a side effect of long-term dopamine replacement therapy in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). It is a harrowing problem for people with PD, who report that it is one of the most difficult aspects of Parkinson’s to manage.

Because they fear developing dyskinesia, many patients wait as long as possible to begin using the drug levodopa, the gold-standard treatment for relieving the stiffness, tremors, and rigidity that are the cardinal features of PD. Even after starting the medicine, many limit the dosage to reduce the dyskinesias, and therefore settle for a sub-optimal benefit from the best medical therapy available for their disease. There is currently no therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat this side effect. Continue reading “Dave Iverson & Dr. Todd Sherer: New Approaches to Treating Dyskinesia” »

PD Patients, members of the MJFF research community and Team Fox superstars gathered for a photo shoot in Boston on Friday. It was an amazing day in which we brought together some of the many faces of the Foundation—and the synergies were happening left and right.

Continue reading “Point, Click, Shoot-Connect! The Michael J. Fox Foundation Connects Parkinson’s Patients With Researchers” »

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) was featured in the latest newsletter from BioIsrael, a leading source of news and information for that nation’s life sciences community. Read more to learn about the Foundation’s $6.5 million in investments in PD research in Israel to date, targeting Foundation priority areas like LRRK2, the most common genetic contributor to PD, and the improved delivery of levodopa, long the gold standard of treatment for the disease.

Continue reading “MJFF Funding Parkinson’s Disease Research in Israel” »

This past week, the Boston Globe profiled MJFF awardee Civitas Therapeutics, a Chelsea, Massachusetts based pharmaceutical company that is working to develop a therapy to address the challenges in how levodopa, the gold standard therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD), is delivered into the body.  Many patients who take the drug experience “off” periods, when the effects of the medication wear off before they are ready to take their next dose, leaving them in a state where symptoms like lack of mobility may return.  Finding a more consistent method of delivering levodopa could help to minimize these periods, and is therefore one of the  critical unmet needs for those living with PD.

To date, the practical way that the drug has been absorbed is in pill form.  Civitas, however, is studying an inhaled formulation of levodopa for its potential to produce more rapid and continual relief from the debilitating motor fluctuations that are associated with Parkinson’s.

The Globe’s story highlights how, in January of 2011, Civitas was launched as an independent spin-out from a company called Alkermes that was already working to develop a new way to deliver drugs into the lungs through an inhaler. Insulin, human growth hormone, and osteoporosis drugs were among Alkermes’ early targets.  Civitas founders Glenn Batchelder and Martin Freed believed that the inhaler might have a positive impact on PD, in that it could deliver levodopa more quickly than pills, which could in turn help to limit these off periods that are associated with taking the drug.

Civitas is in the initial stages of clinical assessment of their drug candidate, called CVT-301.  Today, they announced early results showing that a sufficient amount of the compound was found in the blood plasma of patients when inhaled into the lungs.  They also reported that the doses administered to trial participants were safe.

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” »

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” »

Civitas Therapeutics announced MJFF funding for an inhaled formulation of levodopa (CVT-301), which has the potential to produce rapid, consistent and durable relief from debilitating motor fluctuations associated with PD. Read the press release below.

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