Apologies for not linking to abstract; thanks Soccertese for doing so. IMHO, a levodopa patch would be disastrous. I have not had a good experience with Neupro, not to mention it was pulled from the market because of a flaw in smooth release of the drug in a predictable, reliable way. I cannot imagine how a levodopa patch would be better unless they vastly improve the whole design; in my mind "patch" means "patchy" drug delivery.

As for improved Sinemet, we have it in the form of Duodopa and provided by Solvay....oh wait, silly me, Europeans have had it for almost ten years. It has passed all trials there and is now being studied in a longitudinal way. Why in the heck was it not fast tracked here? It is outrageous that the pump infusion American style is only in Phase III here- that means we may have relief here in like five more years. My neuro is still promoting DBS over the pump, and he is a young whippersnapper.

As for the mucuna study, I am encouraged that someone has provided a literature review on it and pointed out the research design flaws in light of what they have discovered.

From the full text:

Our study is the first to demonstrate that a simple water extract of M. pruriens endocarp powder with no additives has a superior effect to the combination of MPE+BZ on parkinsonism and that MPE alone is superior to LD alone or LD+BZ combinational therapy in terms of efficacy of ameliorating parkinsonism with dramatically reduced risk for DID. This result is consistent with the observations by Ayurvedic practitioners that PD patients treated with M. pruriens alone do not exhibit any significant DID

They are certainly not reinventing the wheel here, but the main thing they found is that relief appears to be superior to that provided by levodopa/carbidopa. Less of it is needed for superior relief, unlike Sinemet, it has other natural properties (yet unidentified) that ameliorate symptoms, it can be taken in a water suspension, and the big find is that patients who start using mucuna, not levodopa, do not suffer from dyskinesia. Long term use of mucuna in actual patients, not rats, in India substantiate this in a clinical setting.

I like the fact that no decarboxylization is needed with mucuna, so that is one less drug we would need (It is carbidopa and levodopa in Sinemet) to take. They think that mucuna has other natural properties besides levodopa that allow it to be metabolized into the brain more efficiently thereby reducing any peripheral levodopa in system or plasma build up which may trigger dyskinesia and otherwise leave one feeling crappy or nauseated from malabsorbed medication.

Why they are doing these elaborate tests intravenously on rats, I have no idea. However, I think it is the first step in trying to establish "proof" that a substance meets specific points before any further research can be systematically pursued in formulating mucuna as a doctor prescribed alternative to levodopa therapy with oral Sinemet.

Laura