From pipeline email

http://tinyurl.com/37t3gzv

What does this mean exactly?
Thank you

Seems to relate to using a slightly different way of synthesizing l-dopa that gives a higher yield.

Any scientists out there who can clarify this?

if it has anything to do with shortages. And how different will it be, will it be the 'new and improved? if it causes dyskinesia it 's not worth it.

The fungus/mold Aspergilus niger is dark brown or black. The pigment is probably some form of melanin, the production of which uses L-DOPA made from L-Tyrosine by the enzyme tyrosinase. I don't know that I have ever seen a culture of A. oryzae, so don't know if it also makes a melanin-like pigement.

We used to live in a house that had a big pecan tree beside the driveway where I parked the car. At a certain time of summer, the tree had a heavy infestation of aphids which secreted a sugar-rich liquid "honeydew" that fell onto anything beneath the tree. My light tan car would grow nice little black colonies of A. niger in the aphid juice unless I washed it weekly. If I postponed washing it for as long as two weeks, it would become almost completely covered by the black mold, especially on summers when the aphids were especially numerous.

Robert

A wise friend told me a very long time ago we are surrounded by our medicine

Did anyone else notice how odd this sentence is?

They still don't know that levodopa therapy is our "gold standard"; how can it be "gaining interest"?


The amino acid derivative 3,4-dihydroxy L-phenylalanine (L-dopa) is gaining interest as a drug of choice for Parkinson's disease.


Interesting....

Laura

Laura, it was hard to miss....... bizarre statement.....

Paula, I too wondered about whether there was a change in manufacturing process.... everything is so heavily veiled that we cannot really know.

another way of ramping up the production of l-dopa. They try and find "bugs" which have an enzyme or an enzymatic system, that converts common l-amino acids such as phenylalanine or tyrosine, efficiently into l-dopa, which is not a common amino acid.I guess one could grow and avres of fava beans and try build a massive extraction plant, however when they can make drugs or drug intermediates efficiently in a tank, with a "bug" which excretes the sought after substance, the economics of the process are often better, and the process can be done continuously, all year round. Just like making alcohol from yeast and sugar fermentation, rather than using a more costly chemical synthesis using fractionated petroleum (the hydration of ethylene).

Robert - does this mean that I have to have a heavy infestation of aphids which secreted a sugar-rich liquid "honeydew" . . . and grow nice little black colonies of A. niger in the aphid juice ? lol

And thanks, ol'cs for your truthful comments.

Now, would either or both of you fine scientists (ir any oothe r takers) explain this for me?

We are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease based on specific observable symptoms which continue over time and rule out six of one or a half-dozen of other "possibilities."

So we are labeled as PWP (people with Parkinson's) and most of this not-so-elite group respond to the addition of carbidopa/levodopa at varying dosages. Then everything starts to get messy. We get to a point where we cannot decipher which symptoms are being "managed" or "caused" by this dopaminergic addition or the various and sundry dopamine-boosters (or "stretchers" as I like to refer to them), so we try another chemical introduction into our bodies, and we wait . . . and we watch.

And after waiting and watching for several years, we use a very ambiguous scale to categorize us into these neat little boxes known as "stages." And during this time, new symptoms come on the scene - called "dyskinesia or dystonia."

And some decide to use this electrical impulse therapy (DBS) thinking that if we reduce our meds our dyskinesia/dystonia will decrease, (and in some cases post-surgical, it works), yet we still have PD.

My question (I think!) is this:

Why aren't we following the levels in our bodies of chemicals other than dopamine (like levels of Tyrosine, Acetylcholine, GDNF, etc.) as a means of managing our disease - especially when we know that the tweaking of one alters another?

Clear as mud, I'm sure!
Peggy

Peg, you accurately described our "natural history" all the way to the "what next?" stage.
At this point I guess we look under every rock and behind every ganglion in hopes of finding another dopamine "stretcher" or miracle that can offer some relief from the wiggles and painful cramps. I believe in prayer!
Robert