Emerging Treatment Options for Parkinson’s Disease

Advances in Parkinson’s Therapies: Five Key Areas to Watch

Published by The Michael J. Fox Foundation, 2025

This article reviews five promising areas in Parkinson’s disease therapy, including disease-modifying drugs, precision neuromodulation, digital health tools, advanced infusion technologies and biomarker-driven customization of care. It highlights where research stands now, what trials are underway and which developments might reach clinical use.

New Parkinson’s Disease Treatments in the Clinical Trial Pipeline

Published by American Parkinson Disease Association, May 14, 2025

This article reviews five promising compounds in the Parkinson’s disease treatment pipeline: a small-molecule chaperone (ambroxol) targeting GCase, multiple agents inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome, a gene therapy (AAV2-GDNF), a GPCR6 inverse agonist (Solangepras / CVN-424) and a D1-receptor modulator (Glovadalen). It explains mechanisms, trial status and how these therapies might advance symptomatic relief or disease modification.

Focused Ultrasound

Published by The Michael J. Fox Foundation

This article explains how focused ultrasound uses MRI-guided energy to treat targeted brain areas for Parkinson’s motor symptoms. It notes the move from one-sided treatment to carefully staged treatment on both sides. It reviews who may qualify, how the procedure works, expected benefits, how it differs from deep brain stimulation and current research into new targets and blood-brain-barrier applications.

Focused Ultrasound and Parkinson’s Disease

Published by Focused Ultrasound Foundation

This page presents information on how focused ultrasound is being applied to Parkinson’s disease, including the science behind the therapy, procedural details, clinical trial status and patient eligibility criteria.

Focused Ultrasound for Essential Tremor and Tremor-Dominant Parkinson’s Disease

Published by Pacific Neuroscience Institute, 2025

This one-hour webinar features neurologist Natalie Diaz, MD and neurosurgeon Jean-Philippe Langevin, MD explaining focused ultrasound as an outpatient option for essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. They outline who may be eligible, how candidates are evaluated, what to expect from consultation through treatment and how focused ultrasound can reduce tremor without incision or implanted hardware.

Focused Ultrasound for Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor: Clinical Perspectives

Published by PMD Alliance, May 7, 2025

This hour-long webinar features neurologist Paul Fishman, MD, PhD and neurosurgeon Michael Kaplitt, MD, PhD explaining how focused ultrasound is used for Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. They discuss who may be eligible, which brain targets are used, how the procedure is performed under MRI guidance, expected benefits and risks and how focused ultrasound compares with medications and deep brain stimulation.

Wires or Waves for Parkinson’s Disease: DBS vs Focused Ultrasound (2025 PD Symposium)

Published by Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health, April 22, 2025

In this 35-minute symposium talk, movement disorders specialist Rachael Burke, MD, compares deep brain stimulation (DBS) and focused ultrasound for Parkinson’s disease. She reviews when to consider advanced therapies, who makes a good candidate, how each procedure is performed, which symptoms are most likely to improve and key differences such as reversibility, later adjustability and whether treatment can be done on one or both sides of the body.

Episode 157: Pump Therapy

Published by Parkinson’s Foundation, August 22, 2023

This 45-minute podcast features K. Ray Chaudhuri, MD, who discusses pump-based therapies for Parkinson’s disease, how they work, who may benefit and recent developments.

Two articles on medication pumps

Published by The Michael J. Fox Foundation

Onapgo (apomorphine hydrochloride infusion)

This February, 2025 article reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Onapgo, an under-the-skin continuous infusion of apomorphine for advanced Parkinson’s disease. The therapy is designed to reduce “off” periods and motor fluctuations. In a Phase III trial of 107 participants, treatment reduced “off” time by nearly two hours and allowed many patients to reduce oral antiparkinsonian medications. Common side effects include headache, insomnia, nausea, daytime sleepiness, bruising or nodules at the infusion site and dyskinesia.

FDA Approves New Infusion-Based Treatment for Parkinson’s

This October, 2024 article reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Vyalev (infusion-based levodopa/carbidopa) for advanced Parkinson’s disease. It discusses how the therapy uses a continuous pump to deliver medication and extend “on” time by nearly three hours in clinical trials compared to oral treatment. The piece also mentions the expectation of Medicare coverage by the second half of 2025 and common side effects, such as infusion-site reactions and hallucinations.

Stem Cell and Cell-Based Therapies for Parkinson’s: What to Know Now

Published by The Michael J. Fox Foundation, April 22, 2025

This article gives an updated look at stem-cell and other cell-based treatment approaches for Parkinson’s disease, discussing how researchers are trying to replace the dopamine-producing cells lost in the brain, current early clinical trial status (e.g., therapies such as bemdaneprocel and iPSC-derived neurons) and what patients should know about risks, hopes and the still-experimental nature of these therapies.