The project was rewarded by Zcube with a loan of 25 euros
19 April 2018 – Four tools capable of keeping Parkinson's disease at bay and, consequently, bringing the expectation – but above all the quality – of life of patients to the level of their healthy peers: they were designed by Lazzaro Di Biase, 32 years old, neurologist and doctoral student of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, who has just created the start-up PD Innovations (PD stands for Parkinson's Disease) precisely to make effective early diagnosis possible, monitoring the evolution of the pathology and managing treatment, both oral and infusional, in real time and based on the specific clinical conditions of each individual patient.
The young researcher himself presented the project during the launch of the 'Open Accelerator' event, at the headquarters of the pharmaceutical company Zambon: “Currently – explained Di Biase – the diagnostic error in Parkinson's is 30 percent in any stage of the disease. A few months ago we created a particular 'watch', equipped with an algorithm capable of reducing this percentage to 8 percent. With the new device we are confident that we will be able to bring this margin of error to almost zero". This is also why the discovery of him was rewarded, last December 12, by the research venture Zcube, which will finance the research and development of the devices with 25 thousand euros.
In fact, the problem with Parkinson's today is precisely early diagnosis: this pathology cannot be cured but it is possible to live with it if it is diagnosed early and treated pharmacologically. But alongside the 'doc' Parkinsonian patient it is possible to find many people affected by 'essential tremor' or the so-called 'atypical parkinsonisms', very difficult to distinguish in the early stages even if observed by expert specialists. Usually, when it is possible to define the pathology with certainty, several years have passed.
“We want to influence these cases with our devices – underlines Di Biase. Our algorithm will be able to analyze the global movement of the patient, all in a minimally invasive way: the sensors present in a normal smartphone will suffice". A novelty which, therefore, can be used by all doctors, even general practitioners, and which will enable them to issue an unequivocal diagnostic response with respect to a Parkinson's hypothesis, already in the very early stages of the disease.
Not only that - he continues -, we are also working on a tool to optimize the effectiveness of therapies, which through implantable micro-sensors will be able to 'doses' the most suitable and indicated amount of drug for the specific conditions of the patient, varying it if necessary from hour to hour, so as to always keep it adequately mobile".
The researcher ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma he is confident that he will be able to conclude all the clinical validation trials of the four devices by 2020. At that point, if everything goes as hoped, another life could really begin for Parkinson's patients: a day no longer tormented by multiple daily fluctuations of one's ability to move - between moments of motor 'blockage', phases characterized by involuntary movements and others in which it becomes possible to control one's body again. In short, the future dream of a better life for these patients could already be almost present.
