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Early treatment for Parkinson's
Early drug treatment for Parkinson’s shows beneficial effects
Patients with Parkinson’s disease may benefit from starting drug treatment earlier, according to research presented at the Congress of European Federation of Neurological Societies in Madrid.
An international trial of the drug rasagiline (also known as Azilect) found that patients who took the medication soon after diagnosis had significant improvements in their symptoms compared with those patients who started drug treatment later.
Parkinson’s disease, the debilitating brain disorder, affects over 120,000 people in the UK. It is more common in people over the age of 50 and symptoms include shaking, stiffness and poor balance.
Many doctors delay drug treatment for Parkinson’s in the belief that the potency of the drugs decreases the longer they are taken. Rasagiline is a type of drug known as a MAO-B inhibitor and is already available on the NHS for treatment of early Parkinson’s disease or for use alongside other medication in more advanced cases. It works by slowing down the breakdown of dopamine in the brain.
The study involved 1,176 patients from 14 different countries with early, untreated Parkinson’s disease. The volunteers were randomly assigned either 1 or 2 mg of rasagiline to be taken once a day starting immediately or delayed-start treatment where the drug was replaced with a placebo for the first nine months. After 18 months all the patients were reassessed. The researchers found that the early treatment patients were in better health than those in the delayed-start group.
‘Delaying disease progression is the most important unmet need in the management of Parkinson's disease,’ said study leader, Professor C. Warren Olanow. ‘Results of the study show that early treatment with once-daily rasagiline 1mg tablets provided significant clinical benefits that were not obtained by those patients where initiation of Azilect therapy was delayed by nine months.’
Interestingly those patients taking the 2mg dose did not reap the same health benefits as those on the lower dosage. It is not known exactly why this may be the case but it is speculated that the effect of the drug is very subtle and requires a specific dosage.
‘This exciting thing about this trial is that it showed that early drug treatment for Parkinson’s appeared to slow down the progression of the disease,’ says Kieran Breen, Director of Research and Development at the Parkinson’s Disease Society, ‘Patients and doctors should be aware of these possible benefits when considering treatment options.’
However Breen highlights the need for further trials to discover whether other drug treatments for Parkinson’s have the same effect and whether the improvements are long lasting.
‘We suggest that people diagnosed with Parkinson’s sit down with their doctor or Parkinson’s nurse and discuss the options available. Some drug treatments are unsuitable for certain patients and many can have side effects. The pros and cons of any particular treatment need to be weighed up so that patients can make an informed choice.’
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Reader comments
My husband was diagnosed with Parkinsons almost three years ago and was prescribed Azilect immediately by his consultant. He was in the early stages of the disease and what symtoms he had disappeared on taking Azilect. Now, three years on, he is still almost symptom free and able to live normally. To us, Azilect is a miracle drug. My husband will be 83 in November.
Posted by: Margaret Newstead | 01/09/2008 09:37:50
Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.
