President Biden last week signed the National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act into law, which puts the framework in place to advance research and initiatives that prioritize Parkinson’s disease care in the country.
The bill (H.R.2365/S.1064) aims to boost funding for Parkinson’s research, improve early diagnosis, drive new methods for patient care, develop better treatments and cures, and address disparities affecting people with the disease in getting care as well as in clinical trial participation.
“The Parkinson’s Foundation is excited for what comes next,” John Lehr, Parkinson’s Foundation president and CEO, said in a statement. “We look forward to having input in designing exactly how this bill will mobilize meaningful change for the one million Americans living with this disease.”
The next step is for the Department of Health and Human Services to form the National Parkinson’s Project, a federal initiative to treat, prevent and cure Parkinson’s disease. The passage of the bill also establishes a federal advisory council that will create recommendations and guidance for making progress against Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonisms, according to a statement on The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) website in response to the news.
The MJFF notes that the passage of the bill and the creation of the plan, which will be known as the National Parkinson’s Project, is to be modeled after the successful National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA), which was signed into law in 2011.
The news comes as a recent study in Neuron found that positron emission tomography (PET) scans can enable researchers to see abnormal alpha-synuclein protein clumps in the brains of living patients with Parkinson’s disease. The new radiotracer may help clinicians diagnose Parkinson’s disease earlier and give insights into how a patient responds to treatment, the authors of the study said.
