Langston, who has worked on the disease for more than a decade, observes that drug treatment, using a chemical the body can convert into dopamine, typically works for a year or more. When it fails, the patient may turn rigid again, or suffer excessive motion or even psychosis. Langston notes that while fetal-cell transplants showed promise, they sometimes worked too well. The dyskinesias was even worse than those sparked by drug treatment, he adds. Still, he says, there is no good treatment for Parkinson's now, and replacing the body's equipment seems more hopeful than finding better drugs.
Stem cells are the most promising long-term treatment or cure.
Here's our stem-cell bibliography .