Merck Serono to report new Parkinson’s drug trial results

Merck Serono is to present data on a new treatment for Parkinson’s disease at an upcoming international healthcare conference.

The company is attending the annual meeting of the Movement Disorder Society in Buenos Aires, Argentina this week in order to highlight the clinical progress of its investigational oral therapy safinamide.

This treatment has been developed in association with Newron Pharmaceuticals and has been designed to offer benefits such as reduced depressive symptoms and improved motor functions.

Bernhard Kirschbaum, Merck Serono’s head of global research and development, said the data presented at the event will help to increase understanding of the drug’s functions.

He added: “We believe that safinamide has the potential to become one of the first add-on therapies to treat early to late-stage Parkinson’s disease.”

Earlier this month, Merck Serono published a report which highlighted the growing prevalence of its drug Erbitux in the treatment KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer.