The Michael J. Fox Foundation Awards $1 Million for Critical Step Toward Development of Dyskinesia Treatments
NEW YORK, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research has awarded $1 million for a clinical study aiming to make a critical step toward the development of new treatments for dyskinesia, the excessive and uncontrollable movements that are a complication of long-term dopamine replacement therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease. The goal is to establish a framework for testing novel anti-dyskinesia treatments by validating clinical scales used to measure changes in dyskinesia severity.
"Dyskinesia is a top priority for our Foundation because of its significant negative impact on patients' quality of life," said Katie Hood, Foundation CEO. "There is no therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat it. Clinicians primarily prescribe one medication, amantadine. But amantadine works only for some patients and for a limited time and, in any case, its efficacy against dyskinesia requires rigorous scientific validation."
The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, enrolling 66 PD patients at up to eight sites in the United States, Canada and Europe, will be led by coordinating principal investigators Christopher G. Goetz, MD, and Glenn T. Stebbins, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
"The drug levodopa, which is converted to dopamine, the chemical lost in Parkinson's disease, is our gold-standard treatment for relieving stiffness, tremors and rigidity," said Dr. Goetz. "But patients are forced to weigh the symptomatic relief offered by levodopa against the knowledge that, at some point, it will very likely cause dyskinesia. So, many patients wait as long as possible to begin using levodopa, and even after starting the medicine, they limit the dosage to reduce the risk of dyskinesia. Those who develop dyskinesia often need to reduce their levodopa dose and therefore settle for a sub-optimal benefit from the best medical therapy available for their disease."
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CONTACT: Media, Holly Barkhymer (MJFF), +1-212-509-0995 ext. 242,
hbarkhymer@michaeljfox.org; or Kimberly Waterman, +1-312-942-7820,
Kimberly_Waterman@rush.edu; or Scientific, Alison Urkowitz, +1-212-509-0995
x228, aurkowitz@michaeljfox.org