Harnessing science and continued research to improve lives of people with Parkinson’s
Posted by
07-Jun-2017
At UCB, we are committed to delivering innovative solutions that are valued by people with Parkinson’s disease and their families.
UCB-sponsored posters at this week’s International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders in Vancouver (4-8 June) show how we are supporting a broad range of research initiatives designed to help the Parkinson’s community.
Our mission is to bring patients medicines that improve their lives. We are also dedicated to researching new ways to track symptoms so that patients and their clinicians have a holistic and sophisticated view on how their condition is developing.
Parkinson’s Well-Being Map™
Several years ago, UCB introduced the Parkinson’s Well-Being Map™ - (WBM™) a visual tool which helps people with Parkinson’s to communicate their health status with their health care teams. Taking a holistic approach, it allows patients to monitor both motor and underlying symptoms.
By using the Parkinson’s Wellbeing Map™ people with Parkinson’s are supported in monitoring their condition, reviewing their motor and underlying symptoms and making the most of the consultation with their healthcare professional.
The WBM™ has proven to be popular with patients but is also a powerful research tool. One of the posters at this week’s Congress in Vancouver shows how a team of scientists from the Karolinksa Institutet in Sweden monitored the symptoms of people with Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (IPD) and Secondary Parkinsonism (SPism). Because the WBM™ monitors motor symptoms and non-motor symptoms, it gives researcher a fuller view of how a patient is doing.
The study found that patients with IPD and SPism recorded more motor and non-motor symptoms than a control group. There was a trend towards more memory problems in patients with SPism compared to IPD. Importantly, the Parkinson’s Well-Being Map™ was shown to be easy to fill in for all participants.
Real-time monitoring
Asking patients to record their symptoms is a valuable way to secure regular, subjective information about their well-being. However, technology is bringing new additional options for tracking movement disorders and providing objective information.
A second poster shared in Vancouver highlighted a pilot study which tests a prototype wearable patch that records motor symptoms in real time. The project is evaluating the safety, tolerability and clinical feasibility of using sensor patches to objectively, continuously measure some Parkinson’s symptoms. This work is part of our partnership with MC10 Inc., an innovative electronics company aiming to using smart sensors to change how chronic diseases are managed.
The NIMBLE patch consists of an accelerometer and an electromyograph (EMG) sensor embedded into a flexible, conformable patch designed to measure and record patterns in movement and muscle activity.
The researchers found that the patch can be used to measure the severity of PD motor symptoms. Participants in the study found the NIMBLE patch easy to use and the information gathered was valuable in the management of their PD symptoms.
The study will contribute to ongoing refinement of the algorithm underpinning this innovative technology. As we enter the era of big data, UCB is ensuring that the full potential of this data-driven revolution is brought to the Parkinson’s community.
We were pleased to bring results of our efforts in this area to experts at the International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders and look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of innovation in neurology.
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.
UCB-sponsored posters at this week’s International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders in Vancouver (4-8 June) show how we are supporting a broad range of research initiatives designed to help the Parkinson’s community.
Our mission is to bring patients medicines that improve their lives. We are also dedicated to researching new ways to track symptoms so that patients and their clinicians have a holistic and sophisticated view on how their condition is developing.
Parkinson’s Well-Being Map™
Several years ago, UCB introduced the Parkinson’s Well-Being Map™ - (WBM™) a visual tool which helps people with Parkinson’s to communicate their health status with their health care teams. Taking a holistic approach, it allows patients to monitor both motor and underlying symptoms.
By using the Parkinson’s Wellbeing Map™ people with Parkinson’s are supported in monitoring their condition, reviewing their motor and underlying symptoms and making the most of the consultation with their healthcare professional.
The WBM™ has proven to be popular with patients but is also a powerful research tool. One of the posters at this week’s Congress in Vancouver shows how a team of scientists from the Karolinksa Institutet in Sweden monitored the symptoms of people with Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (IPD) and Secondary Parkinsonism (SPism). Because the WBM™ monitors motor symptoms and non-motor symptoms, it gives researcher a fuller view of how a patient is doing.
The study found that patients with IPD and SPism recorded more motor and non-motor symptoms than a control group. There was a trend towards more memory problems in patients with SPism compared to IPD. Importantly, the Parkinson’s Well-Being Map™ was shown to be easy to fill in for all participants.
Real-time monitoring
Asking patients to record their symptoms is a valuable way to secure regular, subjective information about their well-being. However, technology is bringing new additional options for tracking movement disorders and providing objective information.
A second poster shared in Vancouver highlighted a pilot study which tests a prototype wearable patch that records motor symptoms in real time. The project is evaluating the safety, tolerability and clinical feasibility of using sensor patches to objectively, continuously measure some Parkinson’s symptoms. This work is part of our partnership with MC10 Inc., an innovative electronics company aiming to using smart sensors to change how chronic diseases are managed.
The NIMBLE patch consists of an accelerometer and an electromyograph (EMG) sensor embedded into a flexible, conformable patch designed to measure and record patterns in movement and muscle activity.
The researchers found that the patch can be used to measure the severity of PD motor symptoms. Participants in the study found the NIMBLE patch easy to use and the information gathered was valuable in the management of their PD symptoms.
The study will contribute to ongoing refinement of the algorithm underpinning this innovative technology. As we enter the era of big data, UCB is ensuring that the full potential of this data-driven revolution is brought to the Parkinson’s community.
We were pleased to bring results of our efforts in this area to experts at the International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders and look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of innovation in neurology.
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.
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