when husband was diagnosed in aug '04, we were told there was a phase 3 trial starting "any moment" utilizing mega doses of coq10--i think there are current ongoing trials using mega doses of CoQ10 for ALS, huntington's and alzheimer's, with doses up to 3000 mgm/day, though for those specific diseases, may be only phase 2 trials. Dr. clifford shults, the primary researcher for the small clinical trial using coq10 in PD reported in archives of neurology in 2002, died last yr. and had been ill for a while. i have no idea if that impacted the initiation of phase 3 trials for PD ...there have been reported problems with availability of coq10. for a very long time, there were 4 or 5 Japanese companies who manufactured coq10 and held the patents for the manufacturing processes (interestingly, one of the processes utilized tobacco leaves in the fermentation of their product). I am unsure if the status on manufacturing of coq10 has changed. In 1990, Merck patented 2 formulations of their statins (anti cholesterol drugs) with coq10 to address the depletion of coq10 from statin use, though the company has never exercised the patent. One explanation was there was not enough coq10 available for the millions of doses of statins that were being prescribed. I have read the company maintained the reason for the patent was to prempt any other company should it look like a good idea in the future to produce a statin with coq10. though the stated reason for the patent was to correct the depletion of coq10 caused by blocking the mevalonate pathway by statins. do not understand what they are waiting for--(sorry if i seem to continue to focus on statins --it is the area i research...)

In addition to coq10, my husband takes R+alpha lipoic acid. It reportedly "recycles coq10" reducing it from its oxidized form so that coq10 does not become a "pro-oxidant" instead of an anti-oxidant. this may be over kill , though if interested access the following:

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/othernuts/la/