Funding for research into treatment for Parkinson's disease

The National Institute of Health has awarded funding to a Parkinson's research project in the US.

Binghamton University has received $1.33 million (£676,000) to support its work investigating treatments for the disease and any side effects.

Doctors have used the L-DOPA compound to reverse a deficiency of dopamine in Parkinson's patients for around 50 years.

However, researchers now claim that the treatment is only effective for up to ten years, after which patients may experience side effects.

Christopher Bishop, assistant professor of psychology with the university, said that after ten years up to 90 per cent of treated patients suffer from "L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia".

"So you go from a state of no treatment where you're not moving well, to a state where the drug is working well and you're moving fluidly, to a point where L-DOPA doses are very high and you're producing these abnormal, involuntary movements."

The Parkinson's Disease Society estimates that four million people suffer from the disease worldwide, with 10,000 people in the UK diagnosed each year.