Fall / Winter 2023 | Research
“[ Staging ] provides a path for improving drug development and testing so we can have better interventions throughout the disease course .”
— Sohini Chowdhury , chief program officer , MJFF
7 and other diseases . Eventually , physicians should be able to use the staging system to diagnose PD more precisely and , as nextgeneration therapeutics become available , guide treatment selection . But clinical use is not anticipated at least until the new biomarker test is further developed and optimized ( see below ).
For now , the staging system provides a shared language for researchers and others in the field to talk about PD based on biology as well as symptoms . In doing so , it allows the biopharma industry to conduct more effective clinical trials , where its use will have an immediate impact , according to Kopil .
“ By linking biomarkers to clinical progression , the staging system essentially highlights a path for accelerated approval of new treatments to slow or stop disease progression ,” Kopil said . “ This should enable smarter , faster , smaller , less expensive clinical trials , because you have a more objective endpoint .”
Initiative ( PPMI ). PPMI currently limits participation to individuals 60 and up , since that is the average age when symptoms appear , but the scope is widening to include at-risk individuals age 45 and up so that researchers can learn more about how the disease evolves biologically , before visible symptoms .
Researchers also hope to develop the test to elicit more information . Currently , it only reveals whether abnormal synuclein is or is not present . Efforts are underway to also make it quantifiable , meaning that it would measure the amount of alpha-synuclein .
By providing insight into underlying disease severity , a quantifiable test could inform disease staging efforts and potentially support better clinical trial design and smoother regulatory pathways for drug approval , Frasier said . In particular , he noted , it would let researchers , and eventually clinicians , learn whether a treatment is delaying the progression of disease .