Clinical trails

If a patient is considering enrolling in a clinical study of a new Parkinson's drug or intervention, the following websites can help you identify ongoing clinical trials in a particular geographic area and learn more about the risks and benefits of participating.

• The National Institutes of Health's ClinicalTrials.gov. Searching for Parkinson's disease online turns up more than 450 trials, about half of which are still recruiting volunteers. Each listing briefly explains the study's purpose, where it's being conducted, and who's eligible to participate. At the bottom of the results page, you can click on a link to subscribe to an RSS feed that will notify you of new trials as they are posted.
• PDtrials.org. This site's database lists many of the same studies as in the NIH's ClinicalTrials.gov, plus additional trials, but it's more user-friendly, with study details explained in simple language. You can sign up for a regular e-mail update, called the "PDtrials E-mail Bulletin", to learn about newly opened clinical studies as well as research news.
• Parkinson Pipeline Project. Created by a volunteer group of Parkinson's patients, this website features a database that makes it easy to see which therapies and diagnostic tools are in the research development pipeline and how far along they are.

The government's research plan

You'll get an overview of federal research goals for Parkinson's disease from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke's (NINDS's) 2006 Parkinson's Disease Research Plan. The Parkinson's Disease Foundation provides a handy summary, "Citing Progress and Charting Prospects: The New NIH Parkinson's Research Plan".

The NINDS is currently testing whether the dietary supplement creatine can delay the progression of Parkinson's disease. For details, visit NIH Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease (NET-PD).