Azilect question

[Karen Zimmer <zimmers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm not sure how to actually reply to a thread, but here is a little bit of 
info about Azilect.  My husband has taken 1 mg for 2 years without observing 
any side effects, and little, if any, benefit.  We asked a researcher in New 
Haven if this drug has been shown to be neuroprotective and he gave an 
interesting response.  Apparently when Tevo was doing research, a number of 
researchers encouraged them to do SPECT scans before and after on all study 
participants, so that they could see if taking the drug actually slows the 
death of the neurons.  With a SPECT scan they can actually tell if dopamine 
producing cells have been depleted, and it is an excellent way to diagnosis PD. 
Teva refused to do this, probably because they figured if they can prove it 
helps symptoms, that's enough to sell the drug and why open a possible can of 
worms. The FDA does not allow them to claim neuroprotection for Azilect.  So 
even though the symptoms of PD seem a little better with Azilect (and not !
 a lot for most people) it doesn't prove that it is neuroprotective.  As an 
example of how this can be, the doctor mentioned another drug that although it 
did improve the target symptoms somewhat, it actually hastened the disease 
progress when they did scans.  He does not think that Azilect hastens the 
neuronal death, but he says that we just don't know because there were no scans 
included in the clinical trials.  And he does think it may offer neuro 
protection, but at this point it's impossible to know for sure unless clinical 
trials include scans.

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