WE MOVE News

Subject: Continuous Levodopa for the Treatment of Parkinson Disease

Date: 9/4/2007

"When people with Parkinson disease (PD) first start taking levodopa/carbidopa, their symptoms typically improve and are usually evenly controlled over a period of time. However, as PD progresses, the symptoms "often become more difficult to control. The beneficial effects of a dose of levodopa/carbidopa usually don't last as long as they did during the earlier stages of the disease. Also, about half of people who take levodopa for at least five years develop a side effect called dyskinesia."

"Doctors think that if levodopa is given continuously, rather than now and then, the drug may control the symptoms of PD better and may not cause dyskinesia. How to deliver this constant dose of the medicine has been a challenge. A new treatment is being studied that constantly delivers levodopa/carbidopa in a gel form (Duodopa®) directly into a person's upper intestine."

"Who were the patients in this study and what did they do?"
"Nine people in Italy who were living with advanced PD took part in the study. They had motor fluctuations and dyskinesia that could not be controlled with levodopa taken by mouth and by dopamine agonists. None of these patients had dementia or hallucinations."

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