Study aims to find new drugs for Parkinson's disease

In an effort to “accelerate the pace of drug discovery” targeting Parkinson’s disease, Penn is joining 17 other institutions in a study to determine biological markers of the disease, according to associate professor of Neurology Andrew Siderowf.

The Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative, or PPMI, is a $40-million, five-year observational trial sponsored by the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Researchers will monitor patients to track the progression of biological markers that may become valuable in clinical diagnosis and prognosis.

The goal of the study, Siderowf said , is to provide “tools that would allow researchers to test new drugs much faster and more precisely” than traditional clinical trials for Parkinson’s.

Currently, Parkinson’s patients undergo clinical evaluations and are measured according to a rating scale to determine their progress. However, Siderowf said, these evaluations “are prone to human error,” and thus “not very precise.”

Siderowf, along with Penn Udall Center for Parkinson’s Research Director John Trojanowski and Penn professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Leslie Shaw, sit on the steering committee for the international study.

Penn’s PPMI trial will conduct periodic blood, neurological and spinal fluid tests, among others, on 20 Parkinson’s patients and ten healthy individuals. Researchers will then analyze differences between Parkinson’s patients and the control group, as well as between Parkinson’s patients whose conditions improve over time and those whose do not.

Although the study started several years ago, the foundation approached Penn in the spring. Penn researchers, led by Penn Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center Director Matthew Stern , began the on-site study last month based in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and are currently enrolling their first patients.

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