Skip to Content
Merck
  • Rising to the Challenges of Clinical Trial Improvement in Parkinson's Disease.

Rising to the Challenges of Clinical Trial Improvement in Parkinson's Disease.

Journal of Parkinson's disease (2015-02-28)
Soania Mathur, Steve DeWitte, Israel Robledo, Tom Isaacs, Jon Stamford
ABSTRACT

Despite an urgent need for new medications, clinical trials in Parkinson's have a relatively low rate of success. Although many reasons have been proposed for this, the opinions of patients and scientists, the two principal stakeholders, have not been widely canvassed. The objective of the present study was to establish the main barriers to clinical trials success in Parkinson's, as perceived by people with Parkinson's and those engaged in conducting clinical trials in Parkinson's. Three hundred and three people (303) with a connection to Parkinson's completed an online four-item questionnaire, directed towards discovering the barriers that interfere with the establishment of effective clinical trials. 87% of respondents were patients and their care partners and 11% were medical professionals involved with clinical research. In the survey, those involved in conducting research cited insufficient financial and administrative support as the biggest obstacles to carrying out effective clinical trials. For responders with Parkinson's, the principal barrier to their participation in medical research was fear of potential adverse consequences and misconceptions regarding the clinical trial system as a whole, issues rooted in a perceived lack of communication of relevant information between the research and patient communities. Areas for future improvement as highlighted by this survey and debated at the Rallying to the Challenge meeting of people with Parkinson's (PwP) at the Van Andel Research Institute that followed included recommendations in the areas of communication, education, funding, recruitment and compliance.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Supelco
Silica, 99.8%
Sigma-Aldrich
Silica
Supelco
Glass spheres
Sigma-Aldrich
Silicon dioxide, granular, ≥99.9%
Sigma-Aldrich
Silicon dioxide, −325 mesh, 99.5% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
LUDOX® TM-40 colloidal silica, 40 wt. % suspension in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
LUDOX® SM colloidal silica, 30 wt. % suspension in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
LUDOX® CL colloidal silica, 30 wt. % suspension in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
LUDOX® HS-30 colloidal silica, 30 wt. % suspension in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
LUDOX® LS colloidal silica, 30 wt. % suspension in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
Silicon dioxide, fused (granular), 4-20 mesh, 99.9% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Silica, fumed, powder
Sigma-Aldrich
Silica, fumed, powder, 0.2-0.3 μm avg. part. size (aggregate)
Sigma-Aldrich
Sand, white quartz, ≥99.995% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Silica, mesostructured, MSU-F (cellular foam)
Sigma-Aldrich
1-Naphthyl phosphate monosodium salt monohydrate, ≥98% (titration), powder
Sigma-Aldrich
Silica, nanopowder, 99.8% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Silicon dioxide, single crystal substrate, optical grade, 99.99% trace metals basis, L × W × thickness 10 mm × 10 mm × 0.5 mm
Sigma-Aldrich
Silicon dioxide, nanopowder (spherical, porous), 5-20 nm particle size (TEM), 99.5% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Silicon dioxide, nanopowder, 10-20 nm particle size (BET), 99.5% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Silica, mesostructured, SBA-15, 99% trace metals basis
Sigma-Aldrich
Silica, mesostructured, MCM-41 type (hexagonal)
Sigma-Aldrich
Silica, nanoparticles, mesoporous, 200 nm particle size, pore size 4 nm
Sigma-Aldrich
LUDOX® AS-40 colloidal silica, 40 wt. % suspension in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
LUDOX® AM colloidal silica, 30 wt. % suspension in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
LUDOX® TMA colloidal silica, 34 wt. % suspension in H2O
Sigma-Aldrich
LUDOX® TM-50 colloidal silica, 50 wt. % suspension in H2O