GLNT receives allowance of patent for Parkinson's disease monitoring technology

Mar 5 2014

Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies announced today they have received a new allowance of claims from the U.S. Patent Office, the company’s fourth in the past eight months focused on technology for Parkinson’s disease diagnostics and treatment. This particular application covers a device and method of measuring Parkinson’s motor symptoms such as tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and gait abnormalities or therapy side effects such as dyskinesia. Specifically, the allowed claims recognize the unique and proprietary nature of the level of accuracy and sensitivity that can be delivered by GLNT’s portable systems that measure and quantify Parkinson’s symptoms based on sensors and signal processing. 

GLNT commercialized Kinesia [ http://www.glneurotech.com/kinesia/ ] technology to provide objective and automated assessment of movement disorder symptoms for clinical trials and telemedicine applications. A high level of both accuracy and sensitivity in symptom measurement play an important role when integrating objective measures into Parkinson’s clinical trials to evaluate neuroprotective mechanisms, or in closed-loop control strategies for medication release or deep brain stimulation. “Our company was founded with a passion and commitment to improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s disease using intelligent sensing technologies. One key differentiating innovation is providing automated assessment tools with higher sensitivity and reliability compared to any other available assessment methods”, says Joseph P. Giuffrida, PhD, President and Principal Investigator. “Scientific literature on neuroprotective clinical trials over the last decade highlights several trials that did not meet required efficacy endpoints. Expert thought leaders have voiced concerns that sensitivity of measurement tools is one reason neuroprotective effects are difficult to demonstrate. These allowed patent claims cover technology that strongly taps into that market need.” The company further highlighted the importance of sensitivity and reliability of Parkinson’s measurement in a publication recently accepted by Parkinson’s and Related Disorders, “Clinician Versus Machine: Reliability and Responsiveness of Motor Endpoints in Parkinson’s Disease” [ http://glneurotech.com/publications/ ]

As commercial sales of Kinesia technology continue to grow in the U.S. and European markets, the company is aggressively expanding its intellectual property portfolio in both domestic and international markets.  Through new applications, successful prosecution of pipeline applications, and a growing number of awarded patents, Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies is establishing market protection for organic growth and strategic partnerships. “The core competency of our company and technology lies in our intelligent sensing algorithms integrated with our unique sensor platforms. The ability to provide a significant improvement in the sensitivity and reliability of measuring Parkinson’s symptoms is critical to the market and protecting this technology is an important piece of our overall intellectual property strategy”, says Brian Kolkowski, PhD, Executive Vice-President and General Counsel. “Through continuing to build strategic partnerships and integrating our technology into clinical trials, our company plans to be part of the solution in finding improved treatment options, and perhaps one day a cure for Parkinson’s disease.”