REPORT FROM THE 15^TH INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE AND MOVEMENT DISORDERS, TORONTO, JUNE 5-9, 2011 – The dopamine agonist apomorphine has demonstrated efficacy as a rescue therapy for end-of-dose wearing-off motor fluctuations in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease who are receiving optimal antiparkinsonian medications (Chen & Obering. Clin Ther 2005; 27: 1710-1724).

Side effects include injection-site reactions and skin complications, such as panniculitis, resulting from subcutaneous injection (Koller & Stacy. Neurology 2004; 62[6 suppl 4]: S22-S26).

Read More

REPORT FROM THE 15^TH INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE AND MOVEMENT DISORDERS, TORONTO, JUNE 5-9, 2011 – A Canadian case-control study suggests that a history of influenza exposure may increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease (Harris et al. Abstract 154).

Read More

REPORT FROM THE 15^TH INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE AND MOVEMENT DISORDERS, TORONTO, JUNE 5-9, 2011 – A number of clinical studies have demonstrated the benefits of entacapone, a catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitor, in combination with levodopa-carbidopa in PD patients with motor fluctuations (Parkinson Study Group. Ann Neurol 1997; 42: 747-755; Rinne et al. Neurology 1998; 51: 186-189).

The combination of levodopa-carbidopa-entacapone (LCE) was also shown to provide modest improvements in motor and ADL scores in non-fluctuating PD patients in the Celomen study (Poewe et al. Acta Neurol Scand 2002; 105: 245-255). A pooled analysis subsequently reported that the early addition of entacapone to the levodopa/carbidopa regimen could lead to better long-term outcomes compared to delayed introduction of the drug (Nissinen et al. Eur J Neurol 2009; 16: 1305-1311).

Read More