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Researchers investigate phototherapy for Parkinson’s disease
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PhotoPharmics is currently conducting a double-masked, placebo-controlled human clinical investigation of a proprietary phototherapy lamp intended to provide symptomatic relief of Parkinson’s disease, according to a press release.
In a series of experiments, researchers placed several toxins known to cause Parkinson’s into animals’ eyes, in amounts too small to diffuse into the brain.
In each case, the animals developed Parkinson’s.
“For the first time we discovered a pathway that can cause the disease. This opens the door to find better tools to treat Parkinson’s,” Dan Adams, chief science officer at PhotoPharmics, said in the release.
He added that these results were the “smoking gun” the company was looking for.
Researchers used the eyes as a treatment pathway to deliver minute amounts of dopamine and other medications to the eye, which resulted in rapid symptom recovery in the animals, according to the release.
As dopamine in the eyes is activated by light, researchers experimented with administering light to the animals’ eyes and found a twofold improvement over medication.
This led to research in humans with specialized phototherapy. Preliminary studies have shown dramatic symptomatic improvement, according to the company.
A pivotal double-masked study delivering specialized phototherapy is currently underway in the U.S. and Europe and should be completed by September 2016, according to the release.