Alterity Therapeutics (ASX:ATH) has announced a poster from the ongoing Biomarkers of Progression in Multiple System Atrophy (bioMUSE) natural history study was presented at the International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders.
The company said the presentation correlates data from wearable sensors with clinical assessments of motor function in individuals with Multiple System Atrophy (MSA).
MSA is a rapidly progressive parkinsonian disorder that results in slowed movements, lack of coordination and difficulty with walking (gait) and balance that predisposes to falls.
The poster, entitled Wearable Sensors for Quantitative Motor Assessments in Multiple System Atrophy, describes 12 participants from the ongoing bioMUSE study who wore sensors for up to one year to characterise their motor disability in an outpatient setting.
In the study, sensor parameters strongly correlated with clinical scales of motor impairment that were largely driven by changes in gait stability. Investigators concluded that step count and walking time are sensitive measures of disease progression in early MSA.
"In this study, we were able to determine that wearable sensors provide a quantitative measurement of MSA progression that is not captured by neurological examination," said Dr Daniel Claassen, Associate Professor of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Principal Investigator in the bioMUSE study.
"The level of detail captured by the wearable sensors clearly showed a meaningful slowdown in activity, particularly in patients with rapidly progressive disease. These results provide a tool for physicians to assess the gait and activity levels of their patients, and will inform future trials in MSA as potential outcome measures for disease-modifying therapies."
Alterity CEO Dr David Stamler added, "We are very encouraged by these findings as they validate the use of wearable sensors in our ongoing ATH434 Phase 2 clinical trial in MSA. We are using these sensors in study participants to evaluate motor performance in a real-world setting. Progressive decline in motor function represents an important source of disability in MSA so it is important to have tools to measure it with precision. The data presented demonstrate that we can quantify activity levels of participants to support the outcome of the study."
