WELCOME TO OUR PARKINSON'S PLACE!

I HAVE PARKINSON'S DISEASES AND THOUGHT IT WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE A PLACE WHERE THE CONTENTS OF UPDATED NEWS IS FOUND IN ONE PLACE. THAT IS WHY I BEGAN THIS BLOG.

I COPY NEWS ARTICLES PERTAINING TO RESEARCH, NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE, DEMENTIA, THE BRAIN, DEPRESSION AND PARKINSON'S WITH DYSTONIA. I ALSO POST ABOUT FUNDRAISING FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE AND EVENTS. I TRY TO BE UP-TO-DATE AS POSSIBLE.

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR IT'S CONTENTS. I AM JUST A COPIER OF INFORMATION SEARCHED ON THE COMPUTER. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THE COPIES ARE JUST THAT, COPIES AND AT TIMES, I AM UNABLE TO ENLARGE THE WORDING OR KEEP IT UNIFORMED AS I WISH. IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND I AM A PERSON WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE. I HAVE NO MEDICAL EDUCATION,

I JUST WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU WHAT I READ ON THE INTERNET. IT IS UP TO YOU TO DECIDE WHETHER TO READ IT AND TALK IT OVER WITH YOUR DOCTOR. I AM JUST THE COPIER OF DOCUMENTS FROM THE COMPUTER. I DO NOT HAVE PROOF OF FACT OR FICTION OF THE ARTICLE. I ALSO TRY TO PLACE A LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH ARTICLE TO SHOW WHERE I RECEIVED THE INFORMATION SO THAT YOU MAY WANT TO VISIT THEIR SITE.

THIS IS FOR YOU TO READ AND TO ALWAYS KEEP AN OPEN MIND.

PLEASE DISCUSS THIS WITH YOUR DOCTOR, SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, OR CONCERNS. NEVER DO ANYTHING WITHOUT TALKING TO YOUR DOCTOR FIRST..

I DO NOT MAKE ANY MONEY FROM THIS WEBSITE. I VOLUNTEER MY TIME TO HELP ALL OF US TO BE INFORMED.

I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY ADVERTISEMENT OR HEALING POWERS, HEALING FROM HERBS AND ETC. UNLESS IT HAS GONE THROUGH TRIALS AND APPROVED BY FDA. IT WILL GO INTO SPAM.

THIS IS A FREE SITE FOR ALL WITH NO ADVERTISEMENTS

THANK YOU FOR VISITING! TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

TRANSLATE

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Michael J. Fox Parkinson's Group Gunning for Mega-Merger


1/8/2015 10:58 AM PST BY TMZ STAFF 

Michael J. Fox's famous Parkinson's Foundation is asking a judge to give the green light for a big merger with the Michael Stern Parkinson's Research Foundation.
Think of this as American Airlines merging with a regional carrier. Fox's foundation has nearly $120 million in asset, and the Stern foundation only has around $2 million. But based on the court documents -- obtained by TMZ -- it looks like Fox's group thinks the Stern group has some promising research that can help toward finding a cure.


Michael Stern was a reporter for The New York Journal. He died in 2009.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2015/01/08/michael-j-fox-parkinsons-foundation-merging-michael-stern/#ixzz3OHuFjr4x



http://www.tmz.com/2015/01/08/michael-j-fox-parkinsons-foundation-merging-michael-stern/

I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET VERIFICATION ON THIS ARTICLE. THE ABOVE IS THE ONLY ITEM I HAVE FOUND.

FDA Approves Impax Pharmaceuticals’ RYTARY for the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease


Thu, 01/08/2015 - 8:12am 

Impax Pharmaceuticals, a division of Impax Laboratories, Inc., today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved RYTARY, an extended-release oral capsule formulation of carbidopa-levodopa, for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, post-encephalitic parkinsonism, and parkinsonism that may follow carbon monoxide intoxication and / or manganese intoxication. RYTARY is not for use in patients using nonselective monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO) inhibitors.
"The FDA approval of RYTARY (pronounced rye-TAR-ee) is an important new development for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and provides an extended-release carbidopa-levodopa product that treats Parkinson's disease," said Fred Wilkinson, president and CEO, Impax Laboratories.
"RYTARY is designed to address one of the most significant unmet needs for patients living with Parkinson's disease, which is to reduce the amount of time during the day when their symptoms are not adequately controlled."
"There are approximately one million Americans living with this chronic disease and we are pleased to offer this new therapy as a treatment option for those patients," added Wilkinson. "Today's approval of RYTARY is also a significant milestone for Impax because it is our first branded drug internally developed and approved for commercialization."
RYTARY contains immediate release and extended-release beads, with a specific amount of carbidopa and levodopa in a 1:4 ratio, and provides both initial and extended levodopa plasma concentrations after a single dose. RYTARY may be swallowed whole or, for patients who have trouble swallowing, the capsule may be opened and the beads sprinkled on applesauce and consumed immediately.
http://health.einnews.com/article/243354883/DUWmoXeGXyNr7TPh

Psychiatric aspects of Parkinson's disease.


Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is essentially characterized by the motor symptoms in the form of resting tremor, rigidity and bradykinesia. However, over the years it has been recognized that motor symptoms are just the "tip of the iceberg" of clinical manifestations of PD. Besides motor symptoms, PD characterized by many non-motor symptoms, which include cognitive decline, psychiatric disturbances (depression, psychosis and impulse control), sleep difficulties, autonomic failures (gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, urinary, thermoregulation) and pain syndrome. This review evaluates the various aspects of psychiatric disorders including cognitive decline and sleep disturbances in patients with PD. The prevalence rate of various psychiatric disorders is high in patients with PD. In terms of risk factors, various demographic, clinical and treatment-related variables have been shown to be associated with higher risk of development of psychiatric morbidity. Evidence also suggests that the presence of psychiatric morbidity is associated with poorer outcome. Randomized controlled trials, evaluating the various pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for management of psychiatric morbidity in patients with PD are meager. Available evidence suggests that tricyclic antidepressants like desipramine and nortriptyline are efficacious for management of depression. Among the antipsychotics, clozapine is considered to be the best choice for management of psychosis in patients with PD. Among the various cognitive enhancers, evidence suggest efficacy of rivastigmine in management of dementia in patients with PD. To conclude, this review suggests that psychiatric morbidity is highly prevalent in patients with PD. Hence, a multidisciplinary approach must be followed to improve the overall outcome of PD. Further studies are required to evaluate the efficacy of various other measures for management of psychiatric morbidity in patients with PD. 

PMID:
 
25552854
 
[PubMed] 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25552854#

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

CHMP Recommends Approval of Xadago™ (Safinamide) to Treat Parkinson's Disease


MILAN January 7 2015
MILAN January 7 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
  • First New Chemical Entity (NCE) in 10 years to receive a positive opinion from CHMP for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients
  • Positive Opinion for Use of Safinamide as Add-on to L-dopa alone or in combination with other Parkinson's disease medications in mid-late stage PD patients with motor fluctuations
  • Decision based on the results of two international Phase III placebo-controlled studies in over 1100 patients
  • Safinamide's profile is differentiated from "standard of care" demonstrating sustained efficacy in the long term (more than two years)
Newron Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. ("Newron") a research and development company focused on novel CNS and pain therapies and its partner Zambon S.p.A. an international pharmaceutical company strongly committed to the CNS therapeutic area announced today that the EU Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended that the European Commission approve the use of Xadago™ (safinamide) as add-on to L-dopa alone or in combination with dopamine agonists entacapone amantadine and/or anticholinergics for the treatment of patients with mid-late stage Parkinson's disease experiencing motor fluctuations despite being stabilized on 'Standard of Care'.
To view the Multimedia News Release please click: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7406951-chmp-xadago-parkinsons/
C. Warren Olanow M.D. FRCPC Henry P. and Georgette Goldschmidt Professor and Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Neurology and Professor of Neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine stated: "Safinamide is the first NCE to be approved for the treatment of Parkinson's disease in the past 10 years. In a two year double blind study the product demonstrated rapid onset of efficacy (within two weeks) and benefit with respect to improvements in 'ON and OFF Time' without an increase in dyskinesia. This was maintained for the two year duration of the trial when used as an add-on treatment to PD patients with L-dopa-induced motor fluctuations compared with 'Standard of Care'. No other agent has demonstrated this duration of benefit in a double blind trial. Safinamide's effects are dependent upon pharmacological mechanisms that are not shared with other PD drugs. These effects include its dual mechanism of highly selective reversible inhibition of MAO-B and state and use-dependent blockade of sodium channels that inhibit glutamate release implicated in causing dyskinesia. Preclinical experiments and data from a large number of dyskinetic patients enrolled in a placebo controlled clinical study indicate that safinamide also has the potential to improve L-dopa induced dyskinesia in PD patients."
Fabrizio Stocchi M.D. Professor of Neurology Director of the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Research Centre and Institute for Research and Medical Care IRCCS San Raffaele Rome who has been involved with safinamide trials from the beginning said: "The benefits of safinamide were demonstrated as adjunctive treatment for fluctuating patients on top of L-dopa alone or in combination with other PD medications. Safinamide demonstrated significantly improved motor fluctuations Parkinsonism Quality of Life and Activities of Daily Living without any increase in 'ON Time with troublesome dyskinesia'. My experience in treating PD patients with safinamide in Rome over the last 10 years as well as my review of all the data indicate that safinamide is extremely well tolerated even over long periods of time. Safinamide does not require any specific medical monitoring dietary restrictions or particular precautions because the risk of drug interactions is very low."
Ravi Anand M.D. Newron's CMO said "The CHMP decision on safinamide is a great result for PD patients and physicians providing them with a therapeutic alternative that is an improvement over "standard of care" in patients with mid-late stage Parkinson's disease patients on L-dopa who constitute a major proportion (over 75%) of those that are experiencing this progressive debilitating disease. Safinamide's unique profile of rapid onset and long lasting efficacy significant even at two years in a randomized placebo-controlled trial has not been demonstrated with any other PD medication. In addition safinamide improved patient and care giver rated Quality of Life measures including PDQ39 and EQ-5D as well as depressed mood. We thank the CHMP and EMA staff for their scientific advice during the development of safinamide and performing a timely review of the MAA."
Maurizio Castorina CEO of Zambon said "We are very excited by the decision of the CHMP that recognizes the therapeutic benefits of Xadago™. We now eagerly await the EU Marketing Authorization from the European Commission so this product can be launched and its benefits made available to Parkinson's disease patients starting in the first half of 2015. Zambon will make its best effort for the expeditious availability of Xadago™ and its success in the marketplace."
The CHMP's positive opinion on Xadago™ will now be reviewed by the European Commission which has the authority to approve medicines for the European Union. The final decision will be applicable to all 28 European Union member countries as well as Iceland Liechtenstein and Norway.
Video:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7406951-chmp-xadago-parkinsons/

PR Newswire
http://www.prnewswire.com/


More:  http://www.pharmiweb.com/PressReleases/pressrel.asp?ROW_ID=106062#.VK35eFoy2S0#ixzz3OCHbEfOA

Exercise Improves Life For People With Parkinson's Disease In Every Area But One



Exercise has been found to people with Parkinson's disease improve their balance, ability to move around and quality of life - the only thing it cannot do is reduce their risk of falling, according to a new study in the journalNeurology. However, when started early, the threshold risk for falling remained lower.
In the study, 231 people with Parkinson's disease either received their usual care or took part in an exercise program of 40-60 minutes of balance and leg strengthening exercises three times a week for six months. The exerciseprogram was prescribed and monitored by a physical therapist with participants performing most of the exercise at home, so it was minimal supervision. On average, 13 percent of the exercise sessions were with a physical therapist.
Falling is a common problem for people with Parkinson's, with 60 percent falling each year and two-thirds of those falling repeatedly, says study author Colleen G. Canning, PhD, of the University of Sydney in Australia. 
Compared to those in the control group, the number of falls by participants who exercised was reduced in those with less severe Parkinson's disease, but not in those with more severe disease. For those with less severe disease a 70 percent reduction in falls was reported in those who exercised compared to those who did not.
"These results suggest that minimally supervised exercise programs aimed at reducing falls in people with Parkinson's should be started early in the disease process," Canning said. 
Overall, those who took part in the exercise program performed better on tests of ability to move around and balance, had a lower fear of falls and reported better overall mood and quality of life.
The study was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and the Harry Secomb Foundation.
http://health.einnews.com/article/242997706/OJUcx_y-yX4B8RJS

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

23andMe and Genentech to Analyze Genomic Data for Parkinson's Disease

New program will support the identification of novel drug targets to treat Parkinson's disease


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.Jan. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- 23andMe, Inc., the leading personal genetics company, today announced an agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY), to generate whole genome sequencing data for approximately 3,000 people in 23andMe's Parkinson's disease community. The goal of the collaboration is to identify new therapeutic targets for treating Parkinson's disease.
"We are incredibly excited to work with Genentech again, and for the potential to make true breakthroughs in therapeutic research and treatment for Parkinson's disease," said 23andMe president Andy Page. "23andMe's research platform is unlike any other for fueling genomic discoveries that have the potential to help treat and solve disease. This collaboration is truly emblematic of both companies' broader vision of improving the human condition through genetic research."
This multi-year collaboration provides Genentech with the ability to identify potential therapeutics based on genome sequencing and survey data from the largest Parkinson's disease community of its kind. Following the conclusion of the collaboration, 23andMe will have the ability to conduct additional research on the data, as well as the ability to make the information available to Parkinson's researchers from around the world. Consistent with 23andMe's commitment to the privacy of research participants, de-identified individual-level data will only be shared from those individuals who provide explicit permission to 23andMe to do so.
According to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation there are an estimated one million people in the United States living with Parkinson's disease. While there have been significant advances in Parkinson's research, there is currently no cure or even treatments that slow the disease.  Some medications can improve symptoms in some patients, but much more research is needed to identify more effective treatments that can slow or halt the progression of the disease.
"Genentech is dedicated to bringing forth treatments for patients with unmet medical needs," said James Sabry, senior vice president and global head of Genentech partnering. "We are thrilled to be working with 23andMe and its diverse database of genomic data to support our research and development programs."
"23andMe helps individuals with debilitating disease participate in research and make advances happen faster," said 23andMe CEO and co-founder Anne Wojcicki. "I am thrilled about this partnership and believe this can help accelerate meaningful discoveries for Parkinson's patients."
About 23andMe
23andMe, Inc. is the leading personal genetics company dedicated to helping people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. ‪Founded in 2006, the vision for 23andMe is to personalize healthcare by making and supporting meaningful discoveries through genetic research. More information is available at www.23andMe.com.
CONTACT: Jackie Kahn, 202-538-0128