Skip to main content

Parkinson's Disease clinical trials at UCSD

11 in progress, 6 open to eligible people

Showing trials for
  • Blood Pressure Effects on Cognition and Brain Blood Flow in PD

    open to eligible people ages 50 years and up

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. Besides causing symptoms that impair movement, PD also causes non-motor symptoms, such as problems thinking and orthostatic hypotension (OH), i.e., low blood pressure (BP) when standing. About one-third of people with PD have OH, which can cause sudden, temporary symptoms while upright, including lightheadedness, dizziness, and fainting. People with PD and OH can also experience problems thinking that happen only while upright and not while sitting - this can occur without other symptoms, such as feeling dizzy or faint. However, the level of low BP that can affect thinking remains unknown, and no guidelines exist for treating OH when it happens without symptoms. This is significant because OH could be a treatable risk factor for thinking problems in PD, but OH is often not treated if people do not report obvious symptoms. This project's goal is to determine how BP affects brain function in PD. The proposed experiments will measure BP and brain blood flow continuously in real-time using innovative wearable technology. Persons with PD with OH and without OH will undergo repeated cognitive tests while supine (lying down) and while upright. I will study the associations between BP, thinking abilities, and brain blood flow, and will compare groups with and without OH. These findings could be important because if a certain level of BP correlates with thinking abilities, then treating OH in PD may prevent thinking problems, which would improve health-related quality of life and reduce disability and healthcare costs.

    San Diego, California

  • Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction for Parkinson's Disease: A Longitudinal Study

    open to eligible people ages 41 years and up

    To investigate the efficacy of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR),to improve HRQoL, cognition, and mood, as well as to determine the longevity of the treatment response in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD).

    San Diego, California

  • Parkinson's Foundation PD GENEration Genetic Registry

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    Development of a central repository for PD-related genomic data for future research.

    La Jolla, California and other locations

  • PDGeneration: Mapping the Future of Parkinson's Disease

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    To assess the feasibility, impact, and participant satisfaction of offering Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certified genetic testing as part of clinical care for People with Parkinson's disease (PWP).

    La Jolla, California and other locations

  • Real-Time Levodopa Level Monitoring in Parkinson Disease

    open to eligible people ages 40-85

    This project aims to develop a minimally invasive microneedle sensor to monitor levodopa levels in real time. We will test the accuracy, tolerability, and safety of this device in people with Parkinson disease.

    San Diego, California

  • PPMI 2.0 Clinical -Establishing a Deeply Phenotyped PD Cohort

    open to eligible people ages 30 years and up

    The Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative 2.0 (PPMI 2.0) is a longitudinal, observational, multi-center natural history study to assess progression of clinical features, digital outcomes, and imaging, biologic and genetic markers of Parkinson's disease (PD) progression in study participants with manifest PD, prodromal PD, and healthy controls The overall goal of PPMI 2.0 is to identify markers of disease progression for use in clinical trials of therapies to reduce progression of PD disability.

    La Jolla, California and other locations

  • A Study to Evaluate Safety and Efficacy of KM-819 in Healthy Adults and Participants With Parkinson's Disease

    Sorry, not currently recruiting here

    The goal of this study is to test KM-819 in halting or slowing the progression of Parkinson's disease. The study evaluates the safety and tolerability of multiple ascending doses of KM-819 in healthy older adults and participants with Parkinson's disease.

    San Diego, California and other locations

  • A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Intravenous Prasinezumab in Participants With Early Parkinson's Disease

    Sorry, not currently recruiting here

    This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that will evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous (IV) prasinezumab versus placebo in participants with Early Parkinson's Disease (PD) who are on stable symptomatic PD medication.

    La Jolla, California and other locations

  • Advancing Understanding of Transportation Options

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    This Stage II randomized, controlled, longitudinal trial seeks to assess the acceptability, feasibility, and effects of a driving decision aid use among geriatric patients and providers. This multi-site trial will (1) test the driving decision aid (DDA) in improving decision making and quality (knowledge, decision conflict, values concordance and behavior intent); and (2) determine its effects on specific subpopulations of older drivers (stratified for cognitive function, decisional capacity, and attitudinally readiness for a mobility transition). The overarching hypotheses are that the DDA will help older adults make high-quality decisions, which will mitigate the negative psychosocial impacts of driving reduction, and that optimal DDA use will target certain populations and settings.

    La Jolla, California and other locations

  • Effects of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) on Gait Biomechanics in Parkinson's Disease

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurological disorder that puts individuals at high risk for injuries and long-term disabilities as a result of a fall or other trauma. Injuries sustained from falls account for many deaths as well as thousands of hospital admissions and nursing home stays every month. Quality of life and even longevity itself is reduced due to the resulting surgeries, immobility, complications and even cognitive impairments that can follow. The proposed study will explore beneficial impact of a treatment modality (OMM/OMT) that may significantly reduce the morbidity of this condition by comparing 6 weeks of OMT versus 6 weeks light touch intervention versus 6 weeks care as usual to improve gait in individuals with PD. Gait will be measured at mid-treatment, post-treatment and 4-week follow-up.

    La Jolla, California

  • Pimavanserin vs. Quetiapine for Treatment of Parkinson's Psychosis

    Sorry, not currently recruiting here

    Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) sometimes experience symptoms affecting their movement, such as slowness, tremor, stiffness, and balance or walking problems. Many patients also have other symptoms not related to movement, called non-motor symptoms, which may affect one's mood or emotions, memory or thinking, or cause one to see or hear things that aren't real (hallucinations) or believe things that aren't true (delusions). Hallucinations or delusions, together called psychosis, occur in up to 60% of PD patients at some point in time. Parkinson's disease psychosis can sometimes be associated with decreased quality of life, increased nursing home placement, increased rate of death, and greater caregiver burden. There are approximately 50,000 Veterans with Parkinson's disease receiving care in the VA, and up to 30,000 (60%) of them will experience psychosis at some point in time. Quetiapine is an antipsychotic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that is the most commonly used medication to treat PD psychosis, but more studies are needed to determine if it works for this condition and is also well tolerated and safe. Pimavanserin is a newer antipsychotic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifically to treat PD psychosis, but more studies are needed to determine if it works and its safety. The purpose of this research is to gather additional information on the safety and effectiveness of both Quetiapine and Pimavanserin. By doing this study, the investigators hope to learn which of these medications is the most effective course of treatment for people with PD psychosis.

    San Diego, California and other locations

Our lead scientists for Parkinson's Disease research studies include .

Last updated: