Fall / Winter 2024 | Research 11 focus on our science and think about what we ’ re going to fund in the coming years .
Why is it important to know more about the early signs and symptoms of Parkinson ’ s ? With neurological disorders that can have a huge impact on a person ’ s quality of life , we want to stop them as early as possible . A lot of research that the Foundation has funded in recent years has indicated that PD symptoms start much earlier , before the motor symptoms start to occur .
If we can better understand early symptoms — like constipation , anxiety or depression — and the related biological processes that lead to motor symptoms , we can intervene earlier . Our findings will hopefully translate to new and improved treatments .
What projects are you most excited about ? We have several new initiatives that we ’ re launching before the year ends and in early 2025 that will hopefully start to answer the questions that are relevant to not only the therapeutic pipeline , but some of our early biology pipeline .
We can start to de-risk new proteins , targets and genes that could be important to Parkinson ’ s . I ’ m excited about that and the technology that is being developed that allows us to answer these harder questions that five or 10 years ago we couldn ’ t .
New Medications Approved for Parkinson ’ s
The U . S . Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) approved two new treatments for Parkinson ’ s disease in 2024 . Both Crexont and Vyalev are levodopa / carbidopa-based therapies .
Crexont , approved in August , aims to offer patients improved motor symptom control and better quality of life through fewer doses . Crexont uses a new extended-release formulation of levodopa / carbidopa , the most commonly prescribed Parkinson ’ s medication , to reduce “ off time ” where symptoms are less controlled .
Vyalev , approved in October , delivers an infusion of levodopa / carbidopa through a continuous pump , much like the one used by people who receive insulin therapy for diabetes . It has been shown to reduce fluctuations in an individual ’ s symptoms ( motor fluctuations ) and give more “ on ” time compared to oral levodopa / carbidopa .
Crexont and Vyalev are the 19th and 20th new treatments for PD to be approved in the past decade . MJFF is monitoring a remarkably robust pipeline of drugs currently in testing , with 151 priority treatments in clinical testing for PD .