The Michael J. Fox Foundation understands that it can be challenging to gain clarity and perspective on breaking Parkinson's news. Q&As in this section are conducted with leading experts in the PD field to quickly provide an informed, impartial opinion on new findings — and get to the bottom of their implications for people with Parkinson's and for researchers.
On Wednesday, September 30, Jeffrey Conn, PhD, announced at the third annual PD Therapeutics Conference in New York City that his MJFF-funded team at Vanderbilt Medical Center had hit a major milestone in its pursuit of a new class of glutamate-based therapies for Parkinson’s disease. The Foundation spoke to him about what his team has achieved and the possible implications for Parkinson’s patients.
For early-stage PD patients, a 1-milligram dose of Azilect met all three clinical endpoints for disease modification. However, a 2-milligram dose met only two of three endpoints. Because of this inconsistency, the drug cannot be definitively concluded to have disease-modifying effects. The Michael J. Fox Foundation spoke with Karl Kieburtz, MD, MPH, about how patients should interpret the news.
On April 15 opinion papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) received worldwide press for their position statements on genes’ limited ability to predict human disease. Brian Fiske, PhD, MJFF’s associate director, team leader, research programs, provides analysis of the papers and their implications for ongoing research into the genetics of Parkinson’s disease.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation spoke to Erwan Bezard, PhD, of the University of Bordeaux (France) about the potential of recent work stimulating the spinal cords of rodent models of PD to lead to a novel treatment for people with Parkinson’s disease.
On March 9, 2009, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order that calls for fair and ethical funding and oversight for embryonic stem cell research. What does the news mean for people living with PD? Brian Fiske, PhD, associate director, team leader, research programs, at The Michael J. Fox Foundation, answered basic questions on the new policy and the state of cell replacement therapy as a treatment approach for Parkinson’s disease.
01/29/2009 Raymond T. Bartus, PhD, on the Outcome of Ceregene, Inc.’s Phase 2 Trial of CERE-120
In the wake of news that Ceregene, Inc.'s Phase 2 trial of CERE-120 failed to demonstrate greater benefit than a placebo, The Michael J. Fox Foundation talked to Raymond T. Bartus, PhD, executive vice president and chief scientific officer, Ceregene, Inc., and Todd Sherer, PhD, MJFF’s vice president of research programs, about the implications for Parkinson’s patients and research directions, and for PD therapeutics development overall.
