Long term effectiveness of ropinirole In Parkinson's disease
09 Jun 2005
Results from a new 10-year study of patients with Parkinson's disease offer
hope to those concerned about the disabling effects of dyskinesia, the
abnormal, involuntary, jerky body movements that result from long-term
l-dopa therapy. These findings come from one of the first observational
endeavours to see how long-term treatment can benefit patients with this
serious disorder.
Presented this week at the 16th International Congress on Parkinson's
Disease and Related Disorders, the data demonstrate that 10 years after
commencement of therapy, patients who were initially treated with
ropinirole, regardless of subsequent therapy, maintained comparable control
of motor symptoms to patients started on L-Dopa but showed a significantly
reduced risk for developing dyskinesias, a key disabling feature of
Parkinson's Disease1.
?It's unusual to be able to conduct a 10-year study of Parkinson's disease
patients, and we are excited to have followed these patients for a decade,?
said David Brooks, MD, DSc, Hartnett Professor of Neurology, Imperial
College London. ?The treatment regimens that patients received in the
follow-up period reflect normal clinical practice and allowed the
investigators to naturalistically observe the progress of common
therapeutic regimens.?
Study overview
In this open-label follow-up, patients were allowed to take any treatment,
giving researchers an opportunity to monitor clinical outcomes in a
?real-world? setting. Patients had originally completed a five-year study -
the landmark 056 Study Group - which was designed to compare ropinirole and
L-dopa therapies for Parkinson's Disease in a tightly controlled, clinical
environment. Of the original 130 patients that completed the 056 Study
Group, 69 of them entered the five-year follow-up, and were given
treatments considered most appropriate by study investigators (?Ropinirole'
group = 42; ?L-dopa' group = 27). Participants' average age was 63 years
and had the disease for slightly more than two years at the start of the
original 056 study. Patients were assessed every six months using the
Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), with symptoms being
measured based on a change from baseline in the motor and Activities of
Daily Living (ADL) scores.
Ropinirole: a significant treatment for Parkinson's disease control
Results from the study demonstrated that after 10 years of treatment,
significantly fewer patients developed dyskinesias in the
ropinirole-initiated group than those in the L-dopa-initiated group (52.4
percent vs. 77.8 percent, p = 0.0457). It also took longer for patients
started on ropinirole to develop dyskinesias than it did for those started
on L-dopa (8.6 years vs. 7.0 years, p= 0.0065). Ropinirole-initiated
patients experienced good treatment efficacy, with similar UPDRS motor and
ADL scores to those who started their care taking L-dopa.
A progressively disabling disease
Parkinson's disease is a devastating, chronic neurological condition
characterised by progressive disabling disturbances in movement and
balance.2 It is understood to be caused by loss of dopamine in the neurones
(nerve cells) in parts of the brain which play a central role in the
voluntary control of movement.3 The results are characteristic symptoms
such as bradykinesia (slowness of movement), muscle stiffness, tremor, and
balance and gait problems.2 According to the World Parkinson's Disease
Association, more than four million people worldwide suffer from
Parkinson's disease, making it the most common neurodegenerative disease
after Alzheimer's.
About GlaxoSmithKline
As one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare
companies, GlaxoSmithKline is committed to improving the quality of human
life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.
References:
1. Data to be presented at ICPD, BerlinGermany, June 2005
2. Olanow, CW, Watts, RL, Koller, WC. ?An algorithm (a decision tree) for
the managment of Parkinson's Disease (2001): Treatment Guidelines.?
Neurology June 2001 56(11 Suppl 5); S1-S88
3. Schwarz, J, Linke, R, Kerner, M, et al. ?Striatal Dopamine Transporter
Binding Assessed by [I-123]IPT and Single Photon Emission Computed
Tomography in Patients With Early Parkinson's Disease.? Arch Neurol. 2000;
57:205-208.
Enquiries:
UK Media enquiries:
Philip Thomson (020) 8047 5502
David Mawdsley (020) 8047 5502
Chris Hunter-Ward (020) 8047 5502
Alice Hunt (020) 8047 5502
European Analyst/Investor enquiries:
Duncan Learmouth (020) 8047 5540
Anita Kidgell (020) 8047 5542
Jen Hill (020) 8047 5543
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