​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Methodology Detail 

​Symptomatic Treatment Drug Trial Portfolio

1) Data for active Phase 1-3 PD trials was downloaded from ClinicalTrials.gov on April 15, 2021. (n=191 trials)

  •  Active trials have ClinicalTrials.gov "Status" parameter = "Recruiting", "Not yet recruiting", "Active, not recruiting", or "Enrolling by invitation".
  • Of the 191 trials,
    • 152 trials were classified on ClinicalTrials.gov as "Drug" Interventions
    • 39 trials were classified as non-drug Interventions (6 Behavioral, 10 Biological, 3 "Combination Product", 10 Device, 1 Diagnostic Test, 4 Dietary Supplement, 1 Genetic, 2 Other, 2 Procedure).

2) Data for "Recently Completed" Phase 1-3 PD trials was downloaded from ClinicalTrials.gov on April 15, 2021. (n=41 trials)

  • "Recently completed" trials were defined as trials with : "Status" = "Completed", "Terminated", "Withdrawn", or "Status unknown" AND with "Primary completion date" >= January 1, 2020. 

3) 3 studies were excluded

  • NCT04616456: trial of drug Verdiperstat (trial for MSA)
  • NCT04184063: trial of drug NBMI (trial for Atypical only)
  • NCT03944447: cannabis drug trial - questionnaire for 100,000 participants

4) Each trial in 1) and 2) was manually classified as: "Treating symptoms", "Modifying disease progression", "Measuring disease progression", or "Understanding pathology". 

5) 104 trials were identified as evaluations of therapies to treat PD symptoms.  They comprise our Portfolio of Symptomatic Treatment Trials.

  • Includes 91 active trials and 13 recently completed trials. These trials had ClinicalTrials.gov "Intervention" parameter = "Drug", "Biological", "Combination", or "Dietary Supplement").

6) Trials in the Symptomatic Portfolio were also classified as evaluating compounds that are: novel, repurposed (approved to treat another disease or PD symptom) or reformulated.


Data compiled by PD Advocate Sue Buff, with special thanks to PD Advocate Marina Noordegraaf for input on trial classifications.


Trial classification references
ClinicalTrials.gov, scientific journals, industry/academic press releases.
Parkinson’s Disease Drug Therapies in the Clinical Trial Pipeline: 2020, Journal of PD July 2020

GOAL of TRIAL PORTFOLIOS

Enable Parkinson's patients and advocates to: 

  • view potential future treatments. 
  • discuss trials of interest with clinicians.
  • follow-up on forthcoming publications of trial results.
  • identify opportunities for collaboration with researchers and funders on future trial priorities and trial protocols/designs.
  • monitor evolution of trials over time.

Inspire hope that better treatments are on the horizon and encourage the patient voice in making this a reality.  





Note: Symptom descriptors are as provided on ClinicalTrials.gov.

Trial portfolios for Parkinson's 

active & recently completed PD clinical trials, segmented by trial focus

Analyzing the Parkinson's disease clinical trial pipeline to facilitate patient collaboration in research.

PDTrialTracker.info

Highlights

  • 104 drug trials in ST portfolio, including ​
    • 91 active trials and 13 recently completed trials (since Jan. 2020) 
    • 4 trials for motor/nonmotor symptom, 63 trials for motor symptoms, and 37 trials for non-motor symptoms

Portfolio #1: PD Symptomatic Treatment Drug Trial Portfolio, as of 4/15/21

Portfolio trials: motor and non-motor symptom breakout


WHAT ARE TRIAL PORTFOLIOS?

​For greater clarity into the clinical trial pipeline, trials can be segmented into groups (portfolios) sharing a common trial focus or characteristic, such as disease-modification therapies (DMT), symptomatic treatments (ST), devices, gene/cell therapies, repurposed compounds, exercise, biomarkers, mechanism of action, therapeutic target, etc.


A trial portfolio contains a set of trial identifiers

(ClinicalTrials.gov NCT numbers) just as a stock portfolio can be represented by a set of stock ticker symbols, for example. Each trial ID links to information published by the trial's sponsor on the ClinicalTrials.gov registry.  At any given time, a trial may be active or completed, so portfolios are time-stamped to indicate each trial's status on the date the portfolio was compiled.