Parkinson’s disease is a progressive central nervous system disorder that mostly affects the motor system or movements. It is a neurodegenerative disorder that predominantly affects the dopamine-producing neurons in a particular area of the brain, known as the substantia nigra. Generally, the cause of Parkinson’s disease is unknown, but both environmental, as well as genetic factors, are believed to cause this illness. The risk factors associated with this disease include age, heredity, gender, and exposure to toxins. While Parkinson’s itself is not fatal in nature, the disease complications could be very serious. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ratings, complications from Parkinson’s disorder are the 14th cause of death in the United States. An estimated 10 million people suffer from this disease globally and approximately 60,000 people in the States alone are diagnosed with Parkinson’s annually.

The symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are found to generally develop gradually over the years and the progression of these symptoms vary from one individual to the other owing to the diversity of the ailment. In the early stages of Parkinson’s, the most obvious symptoms include, difficulty with walking, slowness in movement, changes in speech and gait, shaking, tremors and rigidity. Further, behavioral and thinking problems, including anxiety and depression may also occur in patients. Other apparent symptoms of this disease include emotional, sensory and sleeping problems. In the more advanced stages of Parkinson’s, Dementia is known to become common. Medical researchers have also observed that numerous changes occur in the brains of the people affected with Parkinson’s such as the presence of Lewy bodies, though the reason behind these changes is unclear. Many of these symptoms are owing to the loss of neurons that produce a chemical messenger in the brain called dopamine, the decrease of which causes abnormal brain activity, leading to Parkinson’s disease.

There is no standard treatment for Parkinson’s disease as the treatment for each individual is based on his or her symptoms. After the diagnosis of this disease, treatments can help relieve symptoms but there is no absolute cure for Parkinson’s. The basic treatments include surgical therapy and medication and other treatments are inclusive of lifestyle modifications such as getting more exercise and rest. There are various medications that are available for the treatment of Parkinson’s, though none that can yet reverse the effects of this disorder. However, rapid technological advancements in the healthcare sector have resulted in the effective tracking and monitoring of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. For instance, in June 2018, Apple Inc. announced that the company has added a new “Movement Disorder API” to its open source ResearchKit framework which will enable Apple Watch to uninterruptedly monitor the symptoms of Parkinson’s. Apple launched its ResearchKit framework in 2015 to create opportunities for medical researchers to launch iPhone-based studies and use related apps for medical research purposes. The new “Movement Disorder API” has been developed to offer the app developers using ResearchKit the capability to provide all-day, passive monitoring by means of an Apple Watch running watch OS 5. In order to achieve this, the API would monitor two common symptoms of Parkinson’s that include tremors, indicated by quivering and shaking perceived by the Apple Watch and Dyskinesia, which is a side effect of the Parkinson’s treatment causing swaying and fidgeting motions in patients.

Both the researchers in Apple and outside have been focusing on ways to use the ResearchKit software tools for monitoring mobile device users for an array of disorders and diseases. The Apple Watch is swiftly becoming a beneficial tool for medical researchers for tracking down and monitoring the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s as well as accelerating research with the “Movement Disorder API”. The new API makes studies and researches easier since the algorithms have been developed to report back data correlated with a tremor or quiver resulting from the disorder as opposed to any other motion. Commenting on the development of Apple’s new API, Julie Dodd, Director of Digital Transformation at Parkinson's UK, said: "This is one of the promising developments in wearable tech that could revolutionize our understanding of Parkinson's”. Later in 2018, Apple Inc. is in plans of releasing a software update to make it even simpler for the medical researchers to comprehend the difference between random movements and the dyskinesia and tremors experienced by Parkinson’s patients while getting treated with medications. Further, as all patients would not have the access or affordability for an Apple Watch, the company has started to collaborate with health insurance companies such as Aetna to find ways of subsidizing the costs.

Sheer Analytics and Insights has a comprehensive report on the Global Parkinson’s Disease Treatment Market-providing an exhaustive analysis of the global industry, along with offering an in-depth insight into the factors aiding its growth and also the ones posing as restraints to the market growth. The report also analyses the opportunities offered by the market to the key players operating in the industry. The global Parkinson’s disease treatment market was valued at USD 4.57 Bn in 2017. As per our market research report, it is estimated that the market will expand at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period of 2018 and 2025 and touch USD 7.85 Bn by 2025. You can check out the complete market research report and get industry analysis, competitor analysis, and much more. What can be opined with conviction is that the Parkinson’s disease treatment market is experiencing an uphill trend, which is anticipated to positively impact the growth of the global market in the foreseeable future. 

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