Parkinson's Disease Clinical Trials in Richmond, VA

In this study, researchers will learn more about BIIB122 in participants with early-stage Parkinson's disease (PD). The study will include adults aged 30 to 80 who were diagnosed with PD within 2 years of starting the study. The main objective of the study is to learn about the effect BIIB122 has on slowing down the worsening of PD symptoms. The main question researchers want to answer is: - How long does it take for PD symptoms to worsen during BIIB122 treatment? Researchers will answer this and other questions by measuring the symptoms of PD over time using a variety of scoring tools. These include the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) and the modified Schwab and England Activities of Daily Living Scale (mSE-ADL). The MDS-UPDRS is used to measure symptoms of PD. It has 4 parts: Part I, II, III, and IV. Each part measures different aspects of motor and non-motor symptoms. The mSE-ADL measures a participant's ability to perform daily activities or personal chores. Researchers will also learn more about the safety of BIIB122. They will check participants for adverse events. Adverse events are unwanted health problems that may or may not be caused by the study drug. The study will be done as follows: * Participants will be randomly assigned to take either BIIBB122 or placebo. A placebo looks like the study drug but contains no real medicine. * Neither the researchers nor the participants will know if the participants are receiving BIIB122 or placebo. * Participants will take BIIB122 or placebo tablets by mouth once a day. * The treatment period for each participant will last between 48 and 144 weeks. * There will be a safety follow-up period for 2 weeks after the last dose of BIIB122. * In total, participants will have up to 29 study visits. * Participants will stay in the study for at least 1 year, up to about 3 years. Read Less

Physical therapy approaches for balance and walking deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD) have limited effectiveness, with mostly short-lasting benefits. An exoskeleton is a device that straps to the legs and provides a passive force to assist people to better ambulate. The goal of this study is to establish the feasibility and safety of a lightweight exoskeleton on mobility and fall reduction in people with PD. As most PD patients eventually require assistive mobility devices, the exoskeleton represents a new option for increased, mobility, quality of life, and independence. Qualified subjects will come to the clinic twice weekly for six weeks (12 total visits) and wear the exoskeleton device while walking under the supervision of a trained physical therapist. Study staff will also interview participants and assess their PD symptoms, quality of life, and overall mobility. This study hopes to establish exoskeletons as modern, standard of care devices, which allow people with PD to maintain more independent and productive lives. Read Less

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) sometimes experience symptoms affecting their movement, such as slowness, tremor, stiffness, and balance or walking problems. Many patients also have other symptoms not related to movement, called non-motor symptoms, which may affect one's mood or emotions, memory or thinking, or cause one to see or hear things that aren't real (hallucinations) or believe things that aren't true (delusions). Hallucinations or delusions, together called psychosis, occur in up to 60% of PD patients at some point in time. Parkinson's disease psychosis can sometimes be associated with decreased quality of life, increased nursing home placement, increased rate of death, and greater caregiver burden. There are approximately 50,000 Veterans with Parkinson's disease receiving care in the VA, and up to 30,000 (60%) of them will experience psychosis at some point in time. Quetiapine is an antipsychotic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that is the most commonly used medication to treat PD psychosis, but more studies are needed to determine if it works for this condition and is also well tolerated and safe. Pimavanserin is a newer antipsychotic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifically to treat PD psychosis, but more studies are needed to determine if it works and its safety. The purpose of this research is to gather additional information on the safety and effectiveness of both Quetiapine and Pimavanserin. By doing this study, the investigators hope to learn which of these medications is the most effective course of treatment for people with PD psychosis. Read Less

Development of a central repository for PD-related genomic data for future research. Read Less