Parkinson's disease is one of the most feared debilitating disease currently known, and people over 40 are more at risk than their younger counterparts to develop it.

In a nutshell, the disease is caused by a severe lack of a neural substance called dopamine that allows people to move and have control of it. As people get older, calcium tends to eat up a lot of the dopamine, causing people's neurons to die off, leading to involuntary bodily tremors and afterwards, the inability to walk.

Drug and therapy measures have been employed to ease the burden of thousands upon thousands of patients diagnosed with the disease annually. New hope, however, springs from an unexpected source and it's been showing a lot of promise early on.

The drug is called Isradipine and it was originally designed to lower blood pressure. Incidentally, it's also a calcium-blocker that either slows down or outright stops Parkinson's disease dead in its tracks. By blocking calcium, the afflicted neurons of Parkinson's patients are rejuvenated and go back to their original healthy states.

Professor James Surmeier who led the study leading to the discovery in Chicago's Northwestern University said "our hope is that this drug will protect dopamine neurons, so that if you begin taking it early enough, you won't get Parkinson's disease, even if you were at risk."

Organizations funding researches on possible treatments for Parkinson's aren't jumping the gun, though. hey said that they're impressed and continuously monitoring the progress of the study to see if it can hold up to its bidding.