Rasagiline may slow progression of Parkinson's disease
Patients with Parkinson's disease may benefit from a new drug with the potential to modify the progression of the disease as well as relieve the symptoms, according to results of a recent study.
In the first phase of the study, researchers from the international Parkinson
Study Group randomised 371 subjects with early, untreated Parkinson’s
disease to receive rasagiline 1mg or 2mg per day, or placebo, for six
months.
Subjects receiving the drug, a reversible monoamine oxidase type B inhibitor,
were found to have better symptom control than the placebo group. In
the second phase of the study, subjects taking rasagiline continued at
the same dosage, and subjects previously taking placebo took rasagiline
2mg per day for six months. Subjects treated with rasagiline for 12 months
showed less functional decline than subjects whose treatment was delayed
for six months.
The authors say that rasagiline was well tolerated during the trial and
that the adverse events commonly experienced with other antiparkinsonian
medicines were not common.
They add that the delayed-start method used in this study suggests that
the effects of rasagiline on the progression of the disease cannot be
fully explained by its symptomatic effect, and may be due to disease-modifying
activity of the drug (Archives of Neurology 2004;61:561). |
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