Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects approximately 120,000 people in the UK alone and is
projected to increase dramatically over the next decade as people live longer. The most
effective form of treatment for PD symptoms is a drug called levodopa, but approximately
90% patients who take it for ten years or more develop involuntary movements called
dyskinesia. These movements are a major source of disability and severely affect the patient’s
quality of life with complications of uncontrolled dyskinesia including falls and fractures.
Financial implications are significant; Hauser and Pahwa report “In the year following onset
of dyskinesia, overall treatment costs increase by $7795 and PD-related costs increased by
$4194 pa”. Management of dyskinesia is particularly difficult as it may occur many times per
day and an accurate method of monitoring is not available. Currently, physicians rely on
patients’ descriptions or in severe cases patients are admitted to hospital for several days to
monitor symptoms and adjust their medication accordingly. Because it is currently difficult to
measure dyskinesia accurately, the changes to the patient’s medication can often be
ineffective.
Clear Sky Medical Diagnostics (CSMD) has developed a unique technology, which has a
number of advantages over current monitoring approaches, focussing particularly on the speed
and objectivity of the measurement. Small scale clinical trials have taken place, but the
economic benefits for the NHS and international health organisations are as yet
undocumented. York Health Economic Consortium has been approached in order to set out
the potential financial savings, and to also measure the benefit of the technology in terms of
QALY (quality adjusted life years), a standard measurement for assessing health technologies
based on improvement in patients’ wellbeing. Provision of this health economic assessment,
alongside the clinical data already in place will allow CSMD to go to market with this
technology.