Mirapex

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My son sent me this. He works for Pharmacia.

New JAMA Study Reveals Promising Results in Treatment of Early Parkinson's

Disease

- 2002 April 3

The following is based on an April 2 news release.

A new study published today in the Journal of the American Medical

Association (JAMA) may help doctors better understand and treat early

Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that is second only to

Alzheimer's disease in the number of people affected.

Using SPECT (single photon emission computerized tomography), which is a

specialized camera that measures changes in brain chemistry, investigators

found that patients diagnosed with early Parkinson's disease who received

initial treatment with MIRAPEX (pramipexole dihydrochloride tablets)

demonstrated a slower decline of dopaminergic neuronal functioning

compared

with patients who received initial treatment with levodopa. In the United

States, MIRAPEX is co-promoted by Pharmacia and Boehringer Ingelheim

Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Earlier studies have established that patients with early Parkinson's

disease have already lost an estimated 40-60 percent of dopamine neurons

before symptoms are diagnosed.

Dopamine agonists are among the first choices for initial treatment for

Parkinson's disease. They mimic the action of dopamine that is lost in

Parkinson's disease by directly stimulating dopamine receptors in the

brain.

MIRAPEX is the number one prescribed dopamine agonist in the United

States.

" While there remains debate about treatment for early Parkinson's disease

-

and all treatment should be individualized to meet the needs of the

patient

- this study adds important new information to the growing body of

knowledge

in the early treatment of Parkinson's disease, " according to

Marek,

M.D., President of the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders, New

Haven,

Connecticut.

Levodopa has been traditionally regarded as the gold-standard treatment

for

Parkinson's disease, but after several years of use, it is associated

with a

number of different problems, reducing both its usefulness and

effectiveness.

Parkinson's disease affects approximately one percent of people over age

60,

or 1.5 million people in the United States, causing tremor, muscle

rigidity,

slowed motion, shuffling gait and a loss of facial expression.