Science
Based on real-world evidence.
Velsyna is built on a thorough review of Parkinson’s research. Every signal we measure corresponds to a well-established clinical sign, and our scoring follows the conventions clinicians already trust.
Grounded in research
Three signals, each a recognized clinical sign.
Movement
Bradykinesia and gait change
Slowness of movement is the defining motor sign of Parkinson's. It shows up in finger tapping that gets slower and smaller over repetitions, and in a gait that shortens and loses its swing. These are exactly the behaviors the motor section of the MDS-UPDRS asks a clinician to rate, which is why Velsyna measures them directly.
Voice
Hypophonia and reduced prosody
Most people with Parkinson's develop changes in speech, often early. The voice grows quieter and flatter, with less variation in pitch and pace. Because these changes can appear before they are consciously noticed, a short recorded reading is a sensitive and low-effort way to track them over time.
Expression
Hypomimia, the masked face
Reduced facial expressivity, known clinically as hypomimia or the masked face, is a recognized feature of Parkinson's and part of the MDS-UPDRS motor exam. A brief video captures how much the face moves during rest and conversation, giving an objective read on a sign that is otherwise judged by eye.
Why measure between visits
A single exam doesn't tell the full story.
Parkinson’s symptoms fluctuate from day to day and even hour to hour. When researchers looked at real-world MDS-UPDRS scores, they found that the change measured between two visits was often dominated by ordinary variation rather than true progression. Measuring the same signals repeatedly is how you tell a genuine trend apart from the noise of a single day.
Aligned with the MDS-UPDRS
Built around the scale clinicians already use.
The MDS-UPDRS is the reference scale for rating Parkinson’s in movement disorder practice. It scores each sign from 0 to 4, where 0 is normal and 4 is severe. By reporting our measurements on this same scale, Velsyna produces numbers a clinician can read and interpret without translation.
Our scores are designed to align with the conventions of the MDS-UPDRS, and formal validation of that alignment is the work we are doing next. We describe Velsyna as aligned with the scale, not validated against it, because that is the honest word for this stage.
Sources
Every figure, with its source.
The numbers cited across this site come from peer-reviewed research and recognized organizations. They are listed here in full, numbered to match each reference.
- 1
Care access and utilization among Medicare beneficiaries living with Parkinson's disease
Pearson C, Hartzman A, Munevar D, et al.. npj Parkinson's Disease, 2023.
Only 660 movement-disorder specialists practice in the US, six of them in rural areas, and 40% of Medicare beneficiaries with Parkinson's saw no neurologist in a year.
View source ↗ - 2
Neurologist care in Parkinson disease: a utilization, outcomes, and survival study
Willis AW, Schootman M, Evanoff BA, Perlmutter JS, Racette BA. Neurology, 2011.
42% of Medicare beneficiaries with Parkinson's received no neurologist care; those who did had markedly lower mortality (HR 0.78).
View source ↗ - 3
The Parkinson Pandemic — A Call to Action
Dorsey ER, Bloem BR. JAMA Neurology, 2018.
Parkinson's is the fastest-growing neurological disorder: cases doubled to over 6 million and are projected to double again to more than 12 million by 2040.
View source ↗ - 4
Global, regional, and national burden of Parkinson's disease, 1990–2016
GBD 2016 Parkinson's Disease Collaborators. The Lancet Neurology, 2018.
6.1 million people lived with Parkinson's globally in 2016, up from 2.5 million in 1990.
View source ↗ - 5
Incidence of Parkinson disease in North America
Willis AW, Roberts E, Beck JC, et al.. npj Parkinson's Disease, 2022.
Nearly 90,000 people are diagnosed with Parkinson's in the US each year, which is 50% more than previously estimated.
View source ↗ - 6
Prevalence of Parkinson's disease across North America
Marras C, Beck JC, Bower JH, et al.. npj Parkinson's Disease, 2018.
About 1.1 million Americans live with Parkinson's today, projected to reach 1.2 million by 2030.
View source ↗ - 7
Measuring Parkinson's disease over time: the real-world within-subject reliability of the MDS-UPDRS
Evers LJW, Krijthe JH, Meinders MJ, Bloem BR, Heskes TM. Movement Disorders, 2019.
Visit-to-visit MDS-UPDRS change scores show low real-world reliability, from 0.13 to 0.62, so a single clinic exam is a noisy snapshot of a fluctuating disease.
View source ↗
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