Hi folks, posted this already in one thread, but I'm so excited about it, wanted to be sure interested parties got to see this. For us US folks, who haven't heard very much - at least that I know of - about Mucuna from the medical community, this might give us a good leg to stand on about this. The below link is a patent application to develop a product based on mucuna in the US. I know Zandopa (based - as I understand it - on mucuna) already exists, but I don't think many U.S. doctors prescribe it.

I am not sure of the status of this patent. Both the brief and the extended abstract are some of the clearest information I have found about what is known about the neurotoxicity of standard levo-dopa treament, and it's hastening of the disease, and what mucuna apparently offers as an alternative - which is very little toxicity, and actually helping to alleviate already existing dyskinesias and the like, somehow avoiding some of the delivery issues, and all in all offering what seems like a superior method of treatment, both for newly diagnosed and even late-stage PD'ers. The full abstract cites some of the clinical work done already that the application is based on. One of the applicants is Dr. Warren Olanow, who is (or at least was - not sure current status) chief of neurology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

So as I said, I'm not sure of the status of this patent. But the good news is that mucuna is already readily available in many forms, as has already been
discussed in many threads on this forum. It is FDA approved, available without a prescription, and costs a tiny fraction of what some of the conventional prescriptions cost. However, since it is a very powerful medicine, and will certainly take personal adjustment of whatever existing medication courses we are on -could be very dangerous if those aren't considered - I think those of us interested could use some more input on exactly what we're doing. I personally plan to take this to my doctor and ask him to find out more about it; to me the authorship by such a prestigious doctor as Dr. Olanow indicates that this is a seriously viable alternative and gives me great hope.

http://www.freshpatents.com/Pharmace...0060165822.php