Parkinson’s Foundation and AbbVie Launch Health Care Professional Tool to Support Parkinson’s Disease Treatment
NEW YORK & MIAMI (December 5, 2019) — The Parkinson’s Foundation today announced that the MANAGE-PD tool is now available to support healthcare providers in making informed decisions to assist in the timely management of Parkinson’s disease (PD). This tool aims to aid healthcare providers in managing advanced PD, which can be challenging due to a narrow therapeutic window in which patients may require a complex pharmacological treatment that can cause complications over time.
“Together, the Parkinson’s Foundation and AbbVie are working to help identify the criteria that expert neurologists use to evaluate a patient for a change in intervention,” said Fernando Cubillos, MD, Senior Director of Research Programs of the Parkinson’s Foundation. “Patients experiencing uncontrolled ‘off’ episodes or other PD symptoms have options. The goal is to remain one step ahead of disease progression and to help people live well with Parkinson’s.”
MANAGE-PD is a validated, web-based tool designed to support healthcare providers (HCPs) in identifying patients with PD that may be uncontrolled on oral medications. This instrument is a collaborative research and development effort between an international panel of world-renowned movement disorder specialists, the Parkinson’s Foundation and AbbVie, Inc.
“Proactively identifying a Parkinson’s patient entering the advanced stages of the illness is trickier than one thinks,” said Hubert Fernandez, MD, Director of the Center for Neurological Restoration at Cleveland Clinic’s Neurological Institute and is a steering committee member that worked on the development of the tool. “With such a complex disorder that virtually affects every organ system, both clinician and patient can be easily sidetracked, sometimes at the cost of timely intervention.”
The MANAGE-PD tool is intended to be completed by healthcare providers and includes questions about a patient’s frequency and severity of 10 symptoms across three domains: motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms and functional impact. The computed results allow providers to determine which patients with PD may be adequately controlled on their current treatment regimen or may require changes to their treatment regimen, including evaluation for device-aided therapy.
“AbbVie is committed to addressing unmet needs in Parkinson's Disease through evidence generation and education. The creation of this important tool through the joint collaboration between the Parkinson's Foundation and an expert steering committee is an example of this commitment and we hope it will help patients receive optimal care as their disease progresses,” said Sara Corya, MD, Vice President, U.S. Medical Affairs (Specialty), AbbVie, Inc.
To learn more about the MANAGE-PD tool, visit ManagePD.com.
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About the Parkinson’s Foundation
The Parkinson’s Foundation makes life better for people with Parkinson’s disease by improving care and advancing research toward a cure. In everything we do, we build on the energy, experience and passion of our global Parkinson’s community. Since 1957, the Parkinson’s Foundation has invested more than $400 million in Parkinson’s research and clinical care. Connect with us on Parkinson.org, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or call (800) 4PD-INFO (473-4636).
About Parkinson’s Disease
Affecting an estimated one million Americans and 10 million worldwide, Parkinson’s disease is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s and is the 14th-leading cause of death in the U.S. It is associated with a progressive loss of motor control (e.g., shaking or tremor at rest and lack of facial expression), as well as non-motor symptoms (e.g., depression and anxiety). There is no cure for Parkinson’s and 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the U.S. alone.