NeuroDerm Announces Enrollment in a Phase 2 Study of ND0612, a Continuous Levodopa/Carbidopa Drug for the Treatment of Parkinson's

NESS ZIONA, Israel, April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

NeuroDerm, Ltd. announced today that enrollment of patients is ongoing in its Phase IIa clinical trial of ND0612, a novel drug formulation for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. ND0612 is a proprietary levodopa/carbidopa liquid formula under development for continuous sub-cutaneous administration through a patch pump. It is designed to provide steady levodopa blood levels in Parkinson's disease...

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-...googlenews_wsj

This should be a top-priority research pathway, not to be delayed for years by corporate games or FDA games. It would have the added benefit of letting AbbVie take their duodopa with them when they take down their tent.

This, we want:

" ND0612 bypasses the gastrointestinal tract and should be little influenced by intestinal absorption or oral ingestion of food or drugs. This trial marks a landmark in the development of ND0612, a novel levodopa drug that could become a breakthrough treatment option in Parkinson's Diseases."

What was the other recent research pathway that promises getting through the blood-brain barrier at a molecular level? Have to go back and look it up.

Both of these avoid the drilling through the skull or pipelines to the intestines.

NDO612 and the blood-barrier transporter are two pharma projects that we would love to see being "fast tracked", which at the FDA used to mean six months, not six years.

These two projects should get all the support they need, as pharma projects to get us through the nights and days; and then there will be time to research the non-pharma, non-profitable mysteries, about some people growing fava beans or checking out their auto-immune systems and such like: what they keep saying is a placebo effect even when it lasts for years.

Let's keep track of the above projects and make sure nobody is putting stones in their pathway, such as dangling the project as a carrot for a multi-billion dollar merger or take-over; or the FDA stopping the trial because of the label on the package. This time around, we want to hear of such obstacles being placed on our pathway.
Every day some of us have to decide whether to take an existing treatment, such as wiring into the brain; or wait for one of these relatively less invasive (and less expensive) methods of survival.
That's what Parkinson's Awareness Month is all about, right?