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Originally Posted by Tupelo3
Thanks for the update Laura.
I absolutely agree that everyone should have an option. It's inexcusable that this process should take so many years in the US. However, I do think that the combination of cost, complications and inconvenience will limit the ultimate market for the product.
SynAgile is in Phase II for their DopaFuse subcutaneous infusion pump. So far the results have been very promising. They are using a standard, off-the-shelf, diabetes infusion pump for continuous L-Dopa delivery. There are the possibilities for extended release dopamine (if only Impax could get their act together) and other drugs to enhance half-life, like Intec Pharma's Accordion Pill, which decreased "off-time" significantly in Phase II trials. There are several inhalable versions of dopamine being researched. I just think that over the next few years there will be simpler and equally effective alternatives to the duodopa pump.
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Thanks for sharing these newer treatments that are on the horizon. This is the first I have heard of the Dopafuse infusion. How exactly is the pump different in its delivery than Duodopa? Is it that one goes through the intestine and the other directly into the bloodstream? It is encouraging that Dopafuse seems to require significantly less ldopa in the system.
The inhaled form has been on the table for a long time. I do think the more direct routes have far more promise than anything oral. The med really needs to bypass our digestive system and maintain steady plasma levels, so I remain skeptical of any oral delivery no matter what the claims are.
I appreciate that there are more promising things in the pipeline; I know that I seem to be looking backward with my enthusiasm, but frankly all of these treatments, including DBS, are far from innovative. Really, they all really are attempts to find more effective and efficient ways of administering ldopa. Given that, I agree with Dilmar, I will take it while we "wait and wait" for better things.
Some of us do not have such a good long term relationship with meds. I went from 300 mg a day of Sinemet to 1200 within 3 years of diagnosis, and not one med adjunct has ever given me substantial "on time". This means I have to dose every nearly every 2 hours. Others have had unsuccessful DBS. To some of us, Duodopa, as clunky and cumbersome as it sounds, would likely help immensely.