BrainBlog

Goetz CG. Scales to evaluate psychosis in Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. 2009 Dec; 15 Suppl 3, 38-341 Hallucinations and psychotic behaviors are a frequent non-motor aspect of Parkinson's disease and its treatment. These behaviors usually do not occur in the presence of the physician and are therefore difficult to rate. Further, because of their bizarre nature, hallucinations are frequently underreported by patients, and caregivers are often unaware of them until they become problematic. A number of scales have been developed for rating these behaviors, most of them borrowed or adapted from assessment tools used in other psychotic disorders like schizophrenia. In the latter disorders, however, hallucinations and psychosis are phenomenologically different than the typical hallucinations of Parkinson's disease. The Movement Disorder Society Task Force on Parkinson's Disease Rating Scales has completed a systematic critique of scales used in cl...

FierceBiotech reported today about a failed Phase III trial of Acadia's Pimavanserin in a study of Parkinson's Disease Psychosis (sometimes abbreviated as "PDP"): ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Announces Results from Phase III Trial of Pimavanserin in Parkinson's Disease Psychosis Pimavanserin Misses Primary Endpoint of Antipsychotic Efficacy; Meets Key Secondary Endpoint of Motoric Tolerability [snip] SAN DIEGO -- Sep. 1, 2009-- ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ACAD) today announced top-line results from the first pivotal Phase III trial with pimavanserin in patients with Parkinson's disease psychosis, or PDP. The study did not meet its primary endpoint of antipsychotic efficacy as measured using the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, or SAPS. Pimavanserin met the key secondary endpoint of motoric tolerability as measured using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale , or UPDRS. Pimavanserin was safe and well tolerated, with the frequency of...