Background

There is an unmet clinical need for biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease. Making an accurate diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is difficult, time-consuming and is based on clinical assessment of symptoms, medical history, physical and neurological examination, and response to the drug Levodopa. Expensive imaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), photon emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are used to exclude conditions not associated with dopamine deficiency. Biomarkers that would allow monitoring of Parkinson’s disease offers one of the most promising diagnostic tools with a commercial opportunity.