Hello everyone,
yesterday morning I started taking Xadago® (safinamide) 50mg a day. For now it’s sold only in Germany, in order to shorten time to market. The "small" price is € 850 for a pack of 100 tablets. I must start by saying that I have a bradykinetic Parkinson for about 10 years, and my therapy is: Sirio (Melevodopa)100mg x 3, Stalevo (L-dopa+Entacapone) 150mg x 4, Neupro (Rotigotine) patch 12mg / 24h. Up to 20 days ago, I took it for a week Jumex (MAO-B Inhibitor) 5mg, but I had to stop it, because after a few days, I noticed that it was causing me confusion and poor concentration. For some time now I have some annoying moments of wearing off, and very slight dyskinesias on the peak dose. The package insert of the medicine it says to be careful not to overlap the Xadago® with other inhibitors of MAO-B (eg. Jumex) I had suspended for 20 days, but perhaps not enough time, perhaps it also needs 30 days, in fact, about an hour after I had taken Xadago® after breakfast, I started to feel like full-head sensation, and in fact my blood pressure had gone up a bit '. After about three hours I took 50mg of L-dopa, but I had not yet unlocked, after another 2 hours I took 100mg of L-dopa, but still with little success after another 2 hours I took 150mg and then I unlocked. The ON period lasted about three hours, then I started again 150mg of Stalevo and after another five hours an additional 150 mg of Stalevo.
This morning I woke up in ON and took 100mg of Sirio at 07:30 am, for now I think I do not retake Xadago® because I would experience if in general the timing of ON improve and to work off a bit 'of that feeling of full-head, due to the not very good blood pressure 137/87 mmHg.
I'll try again tomorrow.
Scheme as I assumed Xadago®:
06:30 am awakened and taken Xadago®, OFF
07:30 am feeling of full head,not very good blood pressure (137/87 mmHg), OFF
09:30 am took 50mg Madopar, OFF
11:30 am taken 100mg Madopar, OFF
01:30 pm took 150mg Madopar, OFF
02:30 pm ON, end of feeling full head, regular blood pressure (127/79 mmHg)
04:30 pm took 150 mg Stalevo, OFF
05:30 pm ON
10:30 pm took 150 mg Stalevo, OFF
11:30 pm ON , and sleep
this morning
05:30 am woken up and not taken anything, ON
07:30 am taken Sirio 100mg, OFF
08:00 am ON

hello Sim !

THANKS A MILLION FOR YOUR INFOS !!!!

please keep us updated about Xadago ,
it should be in France in a few months ....very interested to hear about it


kind regards

Thanks for posting this sim00. It wasn't on my radar. Here's my briefing notes.

According to Wikipedia [1]:

"Safinamide is a reversible and selective monoamine oxidase B inhibitor, reducing degradation of dopamine, and a glutamate release inhibitor... It also seems to inhibit dopamine reuptake... Additionally, safinamide blocks sodium and calcium channels."

"Safinamide has been approved by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of adult patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease as add-on therapy to a stable dose of Levodopa (L-dopa) alone or in combination with other PD drugs in patients with mid-to-late-stage fluctuating disease."

According to the Pharmaceutical Journal [2]:

"Long-term treatment with levodopa can eventually lead to fluctuations in control of movement and an increase in involuntary movements, termed dyskinesia. Adding safinamide to levodopa increases the time patients’ symptoms are controlled – so-called “on” time – with little or no troublesome dyskinesia."

"The medicine is available in two strengths, 100mg and 50mg, both taken once daily. There was no difference between average on and off time between the doses, but the 100mg tablet was associated with an improvement in a score of 'activities of daily living'."

Its method of action suggests that safinamide shares some common properties with rasagiline. So, I suspect that it's unlikely that both would be taken. Thus, the marginal benefit of safiamide is reduced for those already taking rasagiline. Safinamide, though, does seem to have some nice properties. According to Kulisevsky [3]:

"no major drug– drug interactions, no diet restrictions due to its higher MAO-B/MAO-A selectivity (1,000-fold more selective in humans for MAO-B compared with 127 for selegiline and 103 for rasagiline)."

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safinamide

[2] http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.co...067595.article

[3] http://www.touchneurology.com/articl...erapy/page/2/0

John

Hi all,
on the second day, no adverse effect to report. Regular blood pressure. No strange sensations. No dyskinesia peak. I have to better assess the extension of the ON time.

Day three.
Nothing negative to report. I'll wait a few more days, yet, then I go on to 100mg, because I read very recently, for very best results, it was necessary to take 1mg per kg of our weight. For example, I weigh 80 kg, then I would take 80mg of Xadago.

Hi Sim00,

Thanks a lot for the information, my mother is gonna start using Xadago and I was wondering how things have been going for you so far.

Best regards.

Sorry for the delay, but I'm still assessing the possible positive effects at a dose of 100mg per day. With regard to 50mg per day, improvements in the wearing off phenomenon, almost zero. Within about 2 days I have passed to 100mg per day, and so far, the ON time seems to be longer.

Wondering why this thread suddenly stopped, or has it been continued somewhere else?

I too am about to start Xadago and was curious as to any other effects anyone has had?