Cognitive impairment and dementia associated with movement disorders represent a major management challenge and area of unmet need. performed at preplanned time points.18 This approach could lead to fundamental “in flight” changes that include total sample size dose Diethylstilbestrol level concomitant treatments changes in primary or secondary outcomes and study duration (e.g. early termination). There are concerns however that this approach could introduce bias and increase the possibility of type 1 errors (incorrect conclusions). Adjustment of the sample size during the course of a clinical trial has become a popular strategy lately.19 Drugs in the Pipeline: Hope or hype? Therapeutic efforts in PD Diethylstilbestrol will increasingly focus on cognitive decline over the next decade. This will be driven by the high unmet need and growing understanding of the pathophysiology and clinical course of cognitive decline. It appears that cognitive impairment is usually multifactorial 20 and progress will therefore be incremental. The biology of cognitive impairment and an appreciation of overlapping features with AD may allow the field to leverage biomarkers and interventions from the AD field. This could accelerate the pace at which new interventions are tested. Clinical trials of SIR2L4 brokers for cognitive impairment may be aimed at enhancing cognition or slowing decline. Pharmacological or biological interventions may focus on a range of targets from fundamental disease processes to resulting neurotransmitter deficits such as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors. Near-term successes are likely to build on the modest but real progress in alleviating neurotransmitter deficits. Though treatment effects are small and comparable in magnitude to AD successful AChE inhibitor trials validate the concept of enhancing cholingergic transmission as a therapeutic approach.21-23 They also suggest that trials in AD may be predictive for PDD at least for certain mechanisms. Selective cholinergic agonists may provide additional benefit beyond the cholinesterase inhibitors. EVP-6124 a selective nicotinic alpha 7 coagonist showed significant improvement on an abbreviated version of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale as well as the clinical dementia rating scale sum of boxes. As a coagonist the agent works in combination with acetylcholine (ACh) making it possible for smaller amounts of naturally occurring ACh to be effective in activating the alpha 7 receptor and possibly improving the tolerability as compared with previous nicotinic agonists.24 There have been other promising alpha 7 clinical trials in the AD populace and in subjects with cognitive impairment in the setting of schizophrenia. Partial agonists of the alpha 4/beta 2 receptor and other mechanisms of targeting cholinergic pathways have also shown some promise. If the effects are confirmed the prominent Diethylstilbestrol cholinergic deficits would make PD with dementia (PDD) a natural next step for clinical trials with these brokers. Other neurotransmitter-based approaches may be viable in PD-related cognitive impairment. Brokers Diethylstilbestrol that inhibit the excitotoxicity of glutamate have been challenging to develop. There is inconsistent evidence that this N-methyl D-aspartate receptor antagonist memantine has any benefit in PDD.25 26 The effect of dopaminergic replacement strategies on cognition in PD remains uncertain. Exogenous dopamine replacement has variable effects which may depend around the selectivity for dopamine receptors particular cognitive domains assessed and the stage of disease. However there appears to be a clear relationship between cognition and dopamine Diethylstilbestrol deficiency as measured by dopamine transporter imaging 27 28 and dopamine metabolism as assessed by catechol-subjects and motor progression. This is becoming more difficult with earlier use of dopaminergic therapy and the period is the one in which our current therapies are most efficacious. There is considerable interest in conversion from premotor PD to manifest motor PD as a clinical trial paradigm. Low predictive value of premotor features and long timelines for conversion are likely to make this a difficult challenge.