A year-old Ohio company is developing sensor-based technology to help physicians study movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease.

Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies, which spun off last year from Cleveland Medical Devices, recently launched a clinical study to test its Kinesia system on patients with Parkinson’s. The project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, will make use of the company’s finger-worn sensor and standardized, video-guided motor assessments to track and measure subtle motor function changes.

“We are very excited for the launch of this study and look forward to demonstrating the utility of Kinesia for high-sensitivity clinical monitoring applications,” said Dustin A. Heldman, the program’s principal investigator, in a press release. “This technology platform should provide a more accurate and efficient method of assessment for pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials on drugs aimed at slowing the progression of PD through neuroprotective mechanisms.”

Affecting more than 6 million people worldwide, Parkinson’s is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder usually associated with tremors, slowed movement, rigidity and gait abnormalities. Physicians currently rate a patient’s disease on a subjective scale of 0-4, known as the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, or UPDRS.

The Kinesia system was refined during an NIH-funded program last year at Cleveland’s University Hospital, in which the company’s KinetiSense wireless motion capture technology was used to capture and quantify the effect of deep-brain stimulation (DBS) on Parkinson’s patients with gait and balance impairment. DBS surgery is typically performed on Parkinson’s patients who no longer respond to medication.

Thomas Mera, the lead study coordinator at Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies for that project, said the technology successfully detected subtle changes in gait and balance in response to stimulation.

“A standardized platform for repeatable, automated testing to assess gait and balance in response to DBS settings should optimize patient outcomes and provide a novel research tool for new DBS protocols targeted to gait and balance,” he said in a company press release. “This will also provide rural communities with improved access to these innovative tools.”

Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies was awarded a patent earlier this month for its Kinesia and Kinesia HomeView technology, which has been in development since 2003. Kinesia HomeView is being developed as a telemedicine solution that would enable physicians to track patients equipped with the technology in their homes.

“The allowance of our patent claims continues a successful commercialization path for our Parkinson’s assessment systems which are intended to help physicians maximize therapeutic benefits and ultimately improve patient quality of life,” said Joseph P. Giuffrida, the company’s president, in a press release. “Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies is uniquely positioned in the movement disorders market as a world leader in medical device development and manufacture of technologies to standardize, automate and remotely capture patient assessments. This heightened intellectual property position builds on and protects our previous commercialization efforts and continued market growth.”

“We have a broad range of patent applications in the pipeline and expect this to be the first of many to cover our innovative product base of movement disorder technologies,” added Brian Kolkowski, the company’s executive vice president and general counsel. “In addition, this U.S. patent represents a first step as we plan to continue with international filings to protect our technology portfolio to support our growth into international markets.”