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Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Parkinson's treatment is entering a new era. Northwestern Medicine's Dr. Lucy Morse highlights a surge of newly approved therapies — including subcutaneous infusions and adaptive deep brain stimulation — alongside biomarker-driven efforts to redefine Parkinson's disease biologically. Her key message: don't wait for late-stage disease to refer patients for specialist or interventional care.
Movement disorders care is moving faster than many clinicians realize. Dr. Lucy Morse, a movement disorders specialist at Northwestern Medicine, outlined a field undergoing rapid transformation ahead of Northwestern's 4th Annual Updates in Neurology CME Symposium — from a wave of newly approved therapies to a fundamental rethinking of how Parkinson's disease (PD) is defined.
On the therapeutic front, the past two years alone have brought approvals for multiple subcutaneous infusions for PD (including levodopa-based Vyalev and apomorphine-based Onapgo), bilateral MR-guided focused ultrasound for essential tremor and PD, and adaptive/closed-loop deep brain stimulation (DBS) — now available in clinic, not just in trials. Meanwhile, biomarker research is pushing toward a biological definition of PD using α-synuclein frameworks, which could eventually allow intervention before symptoms even appear.
Dr. Morse's biggest mindset challenge to clinicians: stop treating specialist referral and interventional therapies as a last resort. Earlier referral opens doors to clinical trials, genetic testing, and device-based options that can meaningfully improve outcomes.
Key Takeaways:
Why it matters: Many clinicians are still managing movement disorders with older oral medication protocols, unaware of how much the toolkit has expanded. Earlier referrals and broader awareness of available therapies could significantly improve patient outcomes.
