Oct 16, 2026
New once-daily med Juvmo aims to maintain control of motor symptoms
Written by Marisa Horak, MS | Sept. 29, 2026
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved tavapadon, now known as Juvmo, to help better manage Parkinson's motor symptoms.
- The once-daily oral therapy, which uses a novel mechanism, is the first of its kind to win FDA approval, according to its developer.
- In clinical trials, Juvmo was shown to control motor symptoms and help delay the start of levodopa treatment.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved tavapadon — an oral drug aimed at maintaining consistent control of motor symptoms — as a new treatment for adults with Parkinson’s disease.
The therapy’s developer, AbbVie, will market the once-daily med, taken as tablets, under the brand name Juvmo, according to a company press release. It’s expected to be commercially available in the U.S. in October. The newly approved therapy can be taken with or without levodopa treatment.
The company noted that Juvmo acts through a novel mechanism, making it the first therapy of its kind to receive FDA authorization for Parkinson’s.
“The approval of Juvmo marks the first dopaminergic breakthrough for Parkinson’s disease in decades,” said Roopal Thakkar, MD, executive vice president, research and development, chief scientific officer at Abbvie.
According to the developer, Juvmo “offers patients a differentiated approach to motor symptom control across the Parkinson’s disease continuum.”
Parkinson’s is marked by the progressive loss of brain cells that produce dopamine, a key neurotransmitter, or brain signaling molecule, that helps control movement and emotion. Standard Parkinson’s treatment involves levodopa, which works to give the brain more raw material to make dopamine. However, as the disease progresses and more dopamine-making cells are lost, patients typically need increasingly higher levodopa doses, which can increase the risk of side effects.
Dopamine agonists — drugs that mimic the activity of dopamine — have also been used for years as part of Parkinson’s treatment. But most dopamine agonists now on the market target specific dopamine receptors, namely D2 and D3. Activating these receptors may help ease Parkinson’s symptoms, but this strategy can also cause side effects.
Oct 15, 2026
Colorado State University team to target distinct variant of alpha-synuclein
Written by Andrea Lobo | Oct. 1, 2026
- A $3 million federal grant will fund new research into how a distinct variant of the alpha-synuclein protein contributes to Parkinson’s disease dementia.
- The National Institutes of Health award allows scientists from Colorado State University to build on their earlier work in a mouse model of the disease.
- The team is aiming to develop better diagnostic tools and future disease-halting therapies for people with Parkinson's.
A team at Colorado State University (CSU) has been awarded $3 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate how a distinct variant of the alpha-synuclein protein — which can build up into toxic clumps in the brain — contributes to Parkinson’s disease with dementia.
The federal grant will allow the university’s researchers to study how this variant spreads through the nervous system. The team’s ultimate goal is to develop therapies to stop the disease’s progression, according to a university news story announcing the funding.
The five-year project, led by Amanda Woerman, PhD, an associate professor at CSU, will build on the team’s previous identification of a unique alpha-synuclein variant in a person with Parkinson’s disease dementia. The researchers will now try to determine how this variant may contribute to the disease’s progression — potentially informing future diagnostic and treatment approaches.
“We’re getting closer to understanding what drives these types of diseases,” Woerman said. “If we can learn how this specific variant causes Parkinson’s with dementia, it will help us better understand what we need to do to successfully intervene and stop the disease.”
Oct 14, 2026
Benefits seen both alone and with virtual reality training in small trial
Written by Patricia Inácio, PhD | Oct. 2, 2026
- An eight-week program of arm and hand exercises was found to ease tremor and improve grip strength in people with Parkinson's.
- Adding virtual reality training using Nintendo Wii games also boosted hand dexterity among participants in the small clinical trial.
- The researchers concluded that this type of exercise program, with or without VR training, may provide benefits for those living with Parkinson's.
Eight weeks of exercises designed to strengthen the arms and hands while muscles lengthen reduced tremor and improved grip strength and hand function in people with Parkinson’s disease, the results of a small randomized clinical trial show.
The benefits were seen whether the exercises were done alone or combined with virtual reality (VR) training using video games, according to the researchers. Nearly half of the study participants were first given VR training for less than 30 minutes using Nintendo Wii games.
Trial data showed that only the group that also used VR games showed a significant improvement in fine hand movements — the small, precise motions needed for tasks such as handling buttons or picking up small objects. Still, the researchers noted that outcomes between the two groups did not differ significantly, so the results do not definitely indicate that adding virtual reality was better than doing the exercises without such training.
“Exercises alone or added to Nintendo Wii games can mitigate tremors and improve strength and gross manual dexterity in Parkinson’s disease,” the researchers wrote. “Adding virtual reality further benefits fine manual dexterity, suggesting a valuable role for gamified rehabilitation.”
The study, “Effects of eccentric upper limbs exercises, added with virtual reality, on tremor and upper limbs function in people with Parkinson’s disease: A randomized clinical trial,” was published in the Journal of Hand Therapy.
Parkinson’s is characterized by progressive motor symptoms, including tremor. People with Parkinson’s can also develop muscle weakness and reduced hand dexterity, making everyday tasks more difficult.
So-called eccentric exercise is a type of training that involves producing force as a muscle lengthens, for example, slowly lowering a weight. Such exercises can promote muscle strengthening and neural adaptations and have previously been investigated as a means of reducing tremor in people with Parkinson’s.
Virtual reality provides another rehabilitation approach that combines physical movement with cognitive demands, such as attention, planning, and visuospatial processing. VR games allow users to control virtual activities through physical movements, potentially providing repeated, task-oriented training and visual feedback. Previous studies have suggested VR may help motor coordination and dexterity.
Testing exercise with and without virtual reality training
Now, researchers in Brazil tested whether combining VR games, specifically those on the Nintendo Wii, with eccentric upper-limb exercises would provide additional benefits to lessen tremor and improve muscle strength and hand dexterity in people with Parkinson’s.
The trial, which involved 25 people with Parkinson’s, was conducted at a single center in the country. All participants were taking dopamine-replacing medications, which increase or mimic the effects of dopamine, the chemical messenger in the brain that helps control movement and is progressively lost in Parkinson’s.
A total of 14 patients were randomly assigned to receive eccentric upper-limb exercise alone, while 11 received the same exercises plus Nintendo Wii training. The groups did not differ significantly in demographic or clinical characteristics, though the Wii group had a somewhat higher proportion of women (55% vs. 43%). The mean age of those in the exercise-only group was 63.5, while that of the participants in the VR group was 59.8.
Both groups completed eccentric exercises twice weekly for eight weeks or about two months, for a total of 16 sessions. The exercises targeted muscles involved in elbow bending and wrist movement, with resistance progressively adjusted for each participant. Each eccentric exercise session lasted about 35 minutes.
The Wii group received an additional 20 minutes of virtual reality training using tennis and boxing games from Wii Sports and cycling and canoeing from Wii Sports Resort. The games required combinations of arm movements alongside attention, planning, concentration, and visuospatial skills.
Oct 13, 2026
Sleep disorder also linked to greater difficulty with everyday activities
Written by Patricia Inácio, PhD | Oct. 5, 2026
- REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) in Parkinson’s disease was tied to a broader range of motor, psychiatric, and daily-function problems than insomnia or sleep apnea.
- RBD was strongly linked to bradykinesia, hallucinations, and difficulties with several activities needed for independent living.
- Long-term studies are needed to confirm these findings and determine whether treating sleep disorders can improve motor symptoms, independence, or other outcomes.
People with Parkinson’s disease with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) showed a broader pattern of motor, psychiatric, and daily-function problems than those with insomnia or sleep apnea, according to a large database study.
RBD was particularly strongly associated with slowed movement, or bradykinesia, and hallucinations, as well as difficulties with several everyday activities. Having multiple sleep disorders was also associated with progressively greater clinical impairment. Additionally, the results suggested that motor impairment may partly help explain the association between sleep problems and difficulty performing daily activities, although the researchers stressed that the study cannot establish cause and effect.
Sleep disorders show different patterns of problems in Parkinson’s
“Overall, distinct sleep disorders in [Parkinson’s disease] were associated with different functional profiles,” researchers wrote, adding that the findings require confirmation in studies that follow patients over time before they can be translated into clinical practice.
The study, “Beyond motor symptoms: associations between sleep disorders and multidomain functional decline in Parkinson’s disease,” was published in the journal npj Parkinson’s Disease.
Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological disease best known for motor symptoms such as tremor, muscle stiffness, and bradykinesia. But the disease also causes a range of nonmotor symptoms that can substantially affect quality of life and independence.
Sleep problems are particularly common, affecting as many as 90% of people with Parkinson’s at some point during the disease. Common examples include RBD, insomnia, and sleep apnea.
RBD occurs when the normal temporary paralysis of muscles during REM sleep is lost, causing people to physically act out their dreams. Insomnia involves problems falling or staying asleep, while sleep apnea involves repeated pauses or reductions in breathing during sleep.
Sleep disturbances have been linked to motor problems, cognitive difficulties, and psychiatric symptoms in Parkinson’s. They may also affect instrumental activities of daily living — more complex everyday tasks needed for independent living, such as preparing meals, shopping, managing finances, and using transportation.
According to the researchers, however, most prior research has examined a single type of sleep disorder or a single area of functioning at a time.
Oct 12, 2026
September 28, 2026 Author(s) Isabella Ciccone, MPH
Key Takeaways
- Selective partial D1/D5 agonism aims to preserve motor efficacy while potentially avoiding D2/D3-mediated nonmotor tolerability liabilities, representing a mechanistically differentiated approach among dopamine agonists.
- TEMPO-1 and TEMPO-2 met primary endpoints in early disease, with placebo-adjusted ~9–12 point improvements in combined MDS-UPDRS II/III across fixed and flexible dosing regimens.
- In levodopa-treated patients with fluctuations, TEMPO-3 increased ON time without troublesome dyskinesia by 1.1 hours versus placebo and reduced OFF time, supporting adjunctive utility.
- Safety signals included nausea, dizziness, hallucinations, orthostatic hypotension, and dyskinesia; discontinuations were higher with tavapadon, predominantly during titration, with class-consistent impulse control warnings.
- Open-label extension data suggest delayed levodopa initiation or escalation, but interpretation is constrained by lack of control, survivor bias, exclusion of patients >80 years, and no comparative effectiveness evidence.
FDA approves once-daily oral tavapadon for Parkinson disease, a first-in-class D1/D5 partial agonist that improves motor function and ON time, with key safety warnings.
The FDA has approved tavapadon (AbbVie), a once-daily oral selective dopamine D1/D5 receptor partial agonist, for adults with Parkinson disease (PD). Marketed as Juvmo, it is the first approved dopamine agonist that selectively targets the D1-like receptor family rather than D2/D3 receptors and can be taken with or without levodopa.1
The approval is based on the phase 3 TEMPO program, which evaluated tavapadon as monotherapy in early PD and as an adjunct to levodopa in patients with motor fluctuations.1-4 “What makes tavapadon unique is its D1 selectivity. We can stimulate motor pathways effectively, but the hope is to avoid the baggage that comes with D2 stimulation, particularly the nonmotor side effects," global principal TEMPO trial investigator Hubert Fernandez, MD, a professor of neurology at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, told NeurologyLive® in a recent interview.1 AbbVie expects tavapadon to be available in the US in October 2026.
“The FDA approval of tavapadon is a momentous occasion, as the Parkinson’s community has waited more than 50 years for new, improved medication options. I am very encouraged by the safety and efficacy data that I have seen from the drug’s clinical trials and am hopeful that people in varying stages of the disease will benefit from it,” Sneha Mantri, MD, MS, FAAN, chief medical officer at the Parkinson’s Foundation, told NeurologyLive.
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