Strict FDA guidelines limit pharmaceutical companies from sharing many details, but medical journals and other sources provide plenty of insight into what the future may hold.
Parkinson's Cures or Partial Cures
What every reader really wants is a cure, and there are a few promising treatments out there. Some treatments aim to slow down Parkinson's disease to the point where a patient may not experience the debilitating side-effects of the disease for years or decades beyond current expectations.
CERE-120 (aka Neurturin) is a gene therapy product that introduces a protein that appears to strengthen dopamine-producing neurons in the brain and prolong their life.
Major Sponsor: Ceregene, Inc.
Spheramine is a therapy that introduces human eye cells called retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, into the brain of a person living with Parkinson's disease. These RPE are capable of producing dopamine.
Graphic: Schering Group – Annual Press Conference 2006, Berlin, Germany
If this treatment proves to be successful, the eye cells could replenish the brain cells killed in Parkinson's disease.
Major Sponsor: Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Besides the experimental therapies mentioned above, coenzyme Q10, rasagiline, creatine, and minocycline are substances and medications that are already available on the market, and they continue in their respective studies to see if they can slow the progression of Parkinson's disease. There is also optimism fueling studies on experimental and existing medications that may be able to block chemicals that damage and kill dopamine-producing neurons.
Improving Existing Medications - Agonists, Inhibitors and Levodopa
Many of the medications currently in the development pipeline are directed at treating Parkinson's disease on a day-to-day basis. Some of them temporarily replace dopamine, others keep dopamine working longer by extending its effectiveness. Some of them imitate or substitute for dopamine. There are also a number of experimental medications for the treatment of other physical or psychological symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
SLV308 is an oral therapy for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease that combines dopamine activity with other vital neurochemicals. So, in addition to making more dopamine available, it also has the potential to enhance patients’ moods by augmenting serotonin and noradrenaline.
Major Sponsor: Solvay Pharmaceuticals
Duodopa contains basically the same medicine as Sinemet, levodopa and carbidopa, except it is not a pill. It is levodopa and carbidopa in a gel delivered by tube directly to a patient's intestine. It is currently used in Europe for patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. It appears that Duodopa's manufacturer has been aggressive about making it available in Europe. However, in the United States, the clinical trial process has slowed down.
Major Sponsor: Solvay Pharmaceuticals
The rotigotine patch is a medication we've discussed extensively. Perhaps Dr. Ray Watts, a noted neurologist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, best explained, "Rotigotine is a dopamine agonist that offers continuous drug delivery with a once-daily patch, which will hopefully mitigate the practical intra-day variability that accompanies the multiple dose regimens of other dopaminergic drugs. For a significant portion of patients, this may offer real advantages."
Major Sponsor: Schwarz Pharma
E2007 is a chemical that hopes to reduce "off" time, motor fluctuations and dyskenisia. Patients would take it along with levodopa.
Major Sponsor: Eisai Medical Research, Inc.
Safinamide (aka NW 1015) is a medicine that blocks a few chemicals that break down dopamine. It apparently acts much like Azilect, the MAO inhibitor, plus it inhibits dopamine re-uptake. If this medicine were proven safe and effective, it would reduce the amount of levodopa one would need.
Major Sponsor: Serono
Istradefylline (aka KW-6002) is a drug that claims to behave in a manner somewhat similar to levodopa. If approved, it would be a messenger chemical, like dopamine, which would connect with a neuroreceptor named A2A. It would open up one more line of communication between the many neurons in the brain, and supplement the shortfalls of the limited levodopa in the brain of a Parkinson's patient.
Major Sponsor: Kyowa Pharmaceutical, Inc.
Treatments for Parkinson's Related Symptoms
The most challenging aspects of living with Parkinson's disease, is not actually the Parkinson's itself. It is many of the other symptoms that accompany it. And there are some medications that we hope will be helpful to people living with Parkinson's disease. Abilify (aripiprazole) is a treatment already approved and stocked in pharmacies for bipolar mood disorder and schizophrenia. Researchers are exploring its ability to calm psychosis in Parkinson's patients. nbsp; Keppra (levetiracetam) is already available as a seizure medication; and, clinical trials are measuring its effectiveness in reducing dyskinesia for people taking levodopa. Antidepressants Paxil (paroxetine) and Effexor (venlafaxine) have been available for quite some time. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is conducting a study to measure their effectiveness in treating depression and some of the movement disorder aspects in Parkinson's disease. Lunesta (eszopiclone) is in studies to see if it helps PWPs sleep better.