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BY OUR PHARMA CORRESPONDENT
LONDON, July 7/PRNewswire/ -- Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative illness that can affect a person's ability to walk, talk, swallow and write. Parkinson's disease results in a marked decrease in the quality of life of the person living with the disease and also that of their family and their caregivers. Around 120,000 people in the UK have Parkinson's disease, with approximately ten thousand new cases being diagnosed each
year.
The primary signs are: tremor of the hands, arms, legs, jaw, and face,
rigidity or stiffness of the limbs and trunk, slowness of movement
and postural instability or impaired balance and coordination.
There is currently no cure for Parkinson's disease. Pharmacological treatment for Parkinson's disease focuses on replacing lost dopamine, and/or augmenting its effects in the brain. The aim of Parkinson's disease treatment is to alleviate the symptoms and slow the progression of the disease, whilst maintaining a good quality of life for the person with Parkinson's disease.(3,4) As the disease progresses, response to treatment can become unpredictable and clinicians focus on reducing the periods of time when the effects of medication wears off and symptoms return, this is known as "OFF" time, and controlling the side effects of long-term medication.(3,4)
Depending on the age and individual circumstances of the person with Parkinson's disease, clinicians use a variety of different medications to manage symptoms. For many years levodopa has been the gold standard treatment for Parkinson's disease.(4) However after a period of time, many patients start experiencing motor complications when, as well as the effects of each dose not lasting as long, they also develop drug-induced dyskinesias (spasmodic or repetitive involuntary movements).(3) Dopamine agonists or MAOB inhibitors are often added at this stage to help bring the symptoms under control.(3)
In a study of 687 Parkinson's patients Azilect and entacapone were compared to when used with levodopa. Both drugs reduced the time each day that patients suffered from impaired movement. But while entacapone must be taken several times a day, Azilect can be taken just once a day.
Professor David Brooks from the Hammersmith Hospital, a leading PD expert and one of the principal investigators of the drug comments, "Treatment regimens with other medications, such as a COMT inhibitor (entacapone) or dopamine agonists, have shown positive effects but they have more complicated administration and titration schedules. Its efficacy and good safety profile positions Azilect as a favourable first-line option for nearly diagnosed patients or as an adjunct therapy to those with more advanced disease receiving other treatments."
For David Pickin Azilect has been a revelation. David (69) was diagnosed with PD 25 years ago. Being a Quality Control Manager in a busy engineering plant he put his initial symptoms of tremor, general slowing down and stiffness down to stress. However, David's symptoms gradually became worse and he was finally diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. His initial drug treatment did help to control his motor symptoms but gradually the benefits of the treatment began to wear off. The simplest tasks such as doing up buttons became impossible due to the tremor in his hands. This period of time was very frustrating for David, as he is a keen gardener and, despite being 69 years old still wanted to undertake long distance running.
As other treatments failed to control his Parkinson's disease so David's doctor suggested he might want to participate in a clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of a new therapy against a dummy drug and another type of treatment for Parkinson's disease. During this trial period David saw a remarkable improvement in his Parkinson's disease. "I began to feel very confident again, I was suddenly able to do things that I had struggled with in the past such as dressing and getting about" comments David. When the trial finished I found out that I had been given Azilect, a new treatment for Parkinson's disease which I was allowed to continue taking and still do." David's renewed confidence and better symptom control meant that he was able to exercise again. "Now I can jog for about 2 miles and try to do 25 minutes of exercise every day." But the biggest achievement for David was to be able to go on holiday to South Africa. "This was something I had always wanted to do but once I was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease I thought it would be impossible. However, as I felt much better since taking Azilect, my wife and I decided we should do it. This drug has given me the freedom to carry on with life, I still get the occasional tremor, but my life has changed completely.
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