26 SEPT 2016: Valley View, OH – Great Lakes NeuroTech (GLNT) today announced plans to collaborate with the pharmaceutical company UCB to provide individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and their clinicians with improved quantitative tools for assessing the impact of their current treatment with the aim of providing better individual patient experiences and, ultimately, improving quality of life.
Parkinson’s causes motor symptoms of tremor, slowed movements, and impaired mobility, with side effects of medication including involuntary movements. These symptoms can vary significantly, both in when during the day they occur and in their severity, which can be challenging for individuals managing their condition. The ability to provide detailed feedback about how a patient is responding to treatment could allow clinicians to better tailor care programs and adapt medicine doses to suit individual patient circumstances.
To tackle this challenge, UCB and GLNT will jointly explore ways to combine data from objective wearable diagnostics (sensors and apps) and therapy dosage into visualization feedback tools for clinicians and patients. These visual tools have the potential to help clinicians adjust medication dosage to optimal settings and direct patient feedback to confirm the therapy is working.
The first step in this collaboration is a pilot study, where both partners will bring their respective expertise:
GLNT’s Kinesia system for objective, wearable assessment of Parkinson’s motor symptoms will provide the technology foundation of sensors and apps for remote symptom monitoring.
UCB’s NEUPRO® therapy, the first Parkinson’s transdermal solution administered as a patch applied directly on the skin, releases rotigotine, a dopamine agonist medicine, providing continuous stable delivery of the drug over a 24 hour period.
“UCB is committed to identifying and addressing the unmet needs of people living with Parkinson’s Disease to enable them to have a more engaged life every day”, said Ana Infante, Head of UCB’s Free Motion Mission. “We are excited to be collaborating with GLNT to progress and explore value creating opportunities in movement disorders and other neurological diseases of high unmet need. This partnership supports our vision of ensuring all patients with movement disorders experience an optimum treatment experience.”
GLNT’s Kinesia product line [ https://glneurotech.com/kinesia/ ] provides remote monitoring of Parkinson’s through wireless, wearable sensors and smart phone applications. The technology has been validated with over 100 publications and has FDA and EU clearance for use.
“Simply putting ambulatory sensors on a patient is no longer that difficult. What is incredibly challenging, rewarding and distinguishes GLNT is developing targeted algorithms and applications which can use that data to actually guide clinical decisions”, said Joe Giuffrida, President at GLNT. “Our research team has spent years developing and validating algorithms for assessing motor symptoms, and are excited to now partner with UCB on a targeted therapy application which we hope will improve patient care and clinical workflow in Parkinson’s disease.”
About Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies
Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies is committed to pioneering innovative biomedical technologies to serve research, education, and medical communities, improving access to medical technology for diverse populations, and positively impacting quality of life for people around the world.
About UCB
UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With more than 7,500 people in approximately 40 countries, the company generated revenue of € 3.9 billion in 2015. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB). Follow us on Twitter: @UCB_news
Media Contacts
Maureen Phillips, 216-361-5410 – mphillips@GLNeuroTech.com
Jim Baxter, +32-4-737 88501 – jim.baxter@ucb.com