New hope for patients with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Few conditions are more devastating psychologically and physically than Parkinson’s disease. The slow erosion of the central dopaminergic neurons controlling muscle movement and tone leads to tremor, rigidity and an inability to move. The disease traps sufferers in their own bodies, and to make patients’ prospects even bleaker, levodopa - the mainstay of treatment for 75% of patients with Parkinson’s disease - can be associated with devastating adverse events.