Have researchers just found another cause of Parkinson's disease?

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark have made an important breakthrough in our understanding of Parkinson’s disease (PD). In a new study, they explain how mitochondria, which are essential energy factories in brain cells, especially neurons, experience damage and could be implicated in the disease. This damage leads to problems in the mitochondrial DNA, which then spreads PD throughout the brain rapidly.

“The competition in this area is intense, but I am convinced that my method has the potential to revolutionize treatment. Right now, it’s all about attracting investors who share our ambition,” says Denham, who is group leader and an associate professor at the Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience (DANDRITE) at Aarhus University. Click here to learn more.

Medications and lifestyle changes can help people cope with dystonia

In 2009, writer, producer and dystonia advocate Rogers Hartmann noticed a crick in her neck. “I just assumed I'd slept on it wrong,” she recalls. But it didn't go away. Hartmann saw six different neurologists before one diagnosed her with dystonia. Click here to hear Hartmann describe her struggles with generalized dystonia that caused her head to tilt below her waist and the treatments she received that allowed her to stand straight again.

FDA lifts partial hold on Phase III plans for rare ataxia drug

Quince Therapeutics has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lifted the partial clinical hold placed on the investigational new drug (IND) application for the drug-device asset EryDex, advancing it into the Phase III NEAT study. EryDex is intended for the treatment of the rare inherited neurological disorder ataxia-telangiectasia, which affects motor movement and speech. The FDA removed the partial clinical hold after requesting additional information on plastics used in the single-use EryKit, which is part of EryDex. Click here to learn more.

Patent given for new approach to Parkinson’s stem cell therapy

Mark Denham, PhD, a scientist in Denmark, has been awarded a patent that covers a new way of using stem cells to create cell therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Securing the patent, which provides two decades of intellectual property protection for the technology, is a first step toward establishing a spinoff company able to take this treatment approach into clinical trials.

“The competition in this area is intense, but I am convinced that my method has the potential to revolutionize treatment. Right now, it’s all about attracting investors who share our ambition,” says Denham, who is group leader and an associate professor at the Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience (DANDRITE) at Aarhus University. Click here to learn more.

Meet Rare Patient Voice at the 2023 Rocky Mountain HDSA Family Education Day, Oct. 21

Rare Patient Voice (RPV) connects patients and caregivers with the opportunity to voice their opinions through surveys and interviews to improve medical products and services, while earning cash rewards.

RPV joins us at the 2023 Rocky Mountain Huntington's Disease Family Education Day next Saturday, October 21, at Bethany Lutheran Church in Cherry Hills Village, CO. Admission to this event is free. Click here for program information and to register online.