APL-130277 (Sunovion) is a sublingual version of apomorphine, a dopamine agonist. As such, it offers a more convenient delivery than present versions of apomorphine, which need to be injected (e.g. Apokyn).

Its purpose is supposed to be dealing with "off" periods. It is suitable for this because it reaches maximum concentration in about 20 minutes, as compared to the 60 minutes of levodopa/carbidopa.

Apomorphine's weakness is that it has a short half-life, 30 minutes as compared to the 90 minutes of L/C. So unless you take other medication you will go "off" quickly.

I think most people will benefit more by having their present drug regimen optimised; making use of the longer half-life of other drugs to give a smoother control of the symptoms.

There is a role for this drug in the case of unexpected "offs", but one has to be careful. Suppose you take a dose of L/C, which has its impact delayed by something in the diet. You go "off" and take the apomorphine, just before the L/C dose kicks in.

John