Fw: Events and news updates.

[Guest guest]

Events and news updates.

Parkinson's exercise group led by Amy Hagedorn. The group will meet April

20th from 9:30AM to 11:30AM at The Heritage Club (2020 S. Monroe St. Denver,

CO 80210). If the weather is bad, call the Heritage Club at .

NEXT MEETING WILL BE

Time: 10:00 AM-12:00 noon. Location: Kaiser Permanente (lin

Building:

20th and Humboldt St.: in the Reimer’s Room) Topics and Presenters:

Cohen, Director of Health Services Research Parkinson’s Disease

Foundation“Parkinson’s Advocacy and the Pipeline: From the Lab to the

Living

†For Patients and Health Care Staff Free refreshments

Two Treatments Show Promise In Slowing Parkinson's Disease

By GAUTAM NAIK

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

04/17/2002

The Wall Street Journal

Two drugs appear to show promise in slowing the progression of Parkinson's

disease, in contrast with the standard medicine, which treats only the

symptoms.

In the first clinical study, GlaxoKline PLC said patients who took its

Parkinson's drug, Requip, showed evidence of " slowing of disease " when

compared with a group of patients who were given levodopa, the current

standard treatment. A separate study conducted by Pharmacia Corp. of

Peapack,

N.J., for its drug, Mirapex, showed a similar result. Both studies were

presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of

Neurology in Denver.

" It's very encouraging " that both Glaxo and Pharmacia have come to a similar

conclusion, said , the lead investigator for the Glaxo study.

" It

makes it more likely that this will be a true finding. " However, both

companies cautioned that longer-term studies are necessary before the true

effect of the two drugs can be determined.

Scientists have struggled to make headway against Parkinson's disease, which

affects about 1.5 million people in the U.S. and 2.5 million more in the

rest

of the world. Researchers believe the illness strikes when certain nerve

cells in the brain degenerate and fail to produce enough dopamine, a

chemical

that plays an important role in the control of movement. Patients then

suffer

from tremors, rigid muscles, slowed motion, shuffling gait and a loss of

facial expression.

The drug now used, levodopa, gained acceptance during the early 1970s. While

levodopa provides some relief from the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, its

side effects -- uncontrollable movements called dyskinesia -- eventually

prove devastating to the quality of life of those taking the medication. By

comparison, Glaxo's Requip, whose chemical name is ropinirole, and

Pharmacia's Mirapex, whose chemical name is pramipexole, are a newer breed

of

drugs that mimic the action of dopamine.

Glaxo said its study consisted of 186 early-stage Parkinson's patients.

During a two-year period, half were given Requip and half were given

levodopa. Scientists then used imaging technology to measure the amount of

dopamine stored in the patients' brains. " The Requip group lost one-third

less dopamine in the brain than those on levodopa, " says Mr. , a

professor of neurology at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, where the

trial

was carried out.

Both groups of patients, however, continued to show deteriorating levels of

dopamine in their brains, a typical outcome of the disease. So it isn't

clear

whether the Requip patients had actually seen speeded-up dopamine

production,

or whether the levodopa group had seen a faster-than-usual deterioration.

Figuring that out " is the next step, " Mr. said. Glaxo said the Requip

patients also experienced a " significantly reduced risk " of dyskinesia,

compared with the group that took levodopa.

Nonetheless, those who took levodopa got greater relief of their symptoms.

That is because levodopa is a stronger drug than Requip, Glaxo said. Mr.

said he expects Requip would eventually have to be combined with a

levodopa-like drug for increased effectiveness.

In the Pharmacia study, similar comparisons were made during four years for

a

group of 82 patients, half of whom were given Mirapex, and the other half,

levodopa. Patients who were given Mirapex showed a 40% slower rate of loss

of

dopamine compared with the levodopa group, Pharmacia said. Mirapex, which

has

been on the market for about five years, was co-developed with

Boehringer-Ingelheim GmbH of Germany.