, /PRNewswire/ -- The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) announced today in total awards to five research teams working on tools to biologically measure and track the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD) from its earliest detection through more advanced stages. Collectively referred to as "quantitative" biomarkers, these tools would improve clinical trials with clear, objective measures.
Parkinson's trials have historically relied on subjective assessments to judge the speed at which a person's PD is progressing. Those assessments come from clinician observations or trial participants filling out surveys noting their symptoms, but they can be inconsistent based on the visit, clinician or person. These inconsistencies make it difficult to clearly judge whether a therapy is effectively helping the individual living with disease.
To objectively test if a therapy can slow or stop the progression of Parkinson's and bring functional benefit to patients, we need validated and reliable tools to measure the biology associated with that progression. Current biomarker-based approaches do not provide the level of detail needed to assess the effect of a given therapy. The biomarker test that was validated last year, , is binary, meaning it shows whether or not the signature misfolded protein in PD (alpha-synuclein, or aSyn) is present.
It does not reveal how much of the protein is present or whether the amount is increasing or decreasing over time. In contrast, q.
