Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, but it is the fastest growing neurodegenerative disorder. It is actually quite fast in its growth, such that if we don't find a cure for Parkinson's disease, over 10 million people worldwide will be suffering from this illness in just about 20 years, at least that's our projection.

Parkinson's disease used to be viewed as a pure neurological disorder. Now we realize that every organ system, or almost every organ system is affected in Parkinson's disease, and so we classify Parkinson's disease not only as a neurological disorder, but a neurosurgical, dermatological, GI, pulmonary, musculoskeletal, genitourinary, disorder as well.

It is quite common in the elderly, but it can affect literally any age group from young adults to very old age. It is slightly more common amongst men compared to women, but women also suffer from Parkinson's disease. Its impact is quite tremendous because it affects not only our functioning-- or the patient's functioning, but also their thinking, their emotions, the way they feel. And so the caregiver burden and the burden to them, and to their working ability, they're all affected. And so at least for us Parkinson's doctors or Parkinson's specialists, we have the race for a cure because of the devastation that this illness causes.