The discovery has ushered in a new biological era for Parkinson ’ s research , and it ’ s effecting a sea change in how we think about the disease and streamline clinical trials .
RESEARCH
THE MICHAEL J . FOX FOUNDATION 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW
A Biological Staging Framework : What Is It , and What Does It Mean for Research ?
For nearly two centuries , doctors have recognized and diagnosed Parkinson ’ s disease by outward , primarily movement-based , symptoms — the cardinal ones being tremor , slowness and stiffness . Researchers , too , have relied on subjective ratings scales and assessments of an individual ’ s symptoms to determine who ’ s eligible for a clinical trial and to measure the impact of therapies in testing .
The discovery has ushered in a new biological era for Parkinson ’ s research , and it ’ s effecting a sea change in how we think about the disease and streamline clinical trials .
Now , thanks to the recently validated Parkinson ’ s biomarker , scientists can better understand the biology of the disease — how and why brain cells become damaged and die , leading to the troubling symptoms of Parkinson ’ s — and create new therapies that can fix these problems .
The discovery has ushered in a new biological era for Parkinson ’ s research , and it ’ s effecting a sea change in how we think about the disease and streamline clinical trials by incorporating biological markers with the range of clinical symptoms that may occur .
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