Non-oral drug delivery in Parkinson’s disease: a summary from the symposium at the 7th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders

Authors: Behrens S.; Sommerville K.

Source: Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, Volume 4, Number 4, 1 April 2003 , pp. 595-599(5)

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Abstract:

This symposium reviewed the issues of non-oral therapy in the late stage Parkinson’s disease (PD). The accepted standard treatment of PD is oral levodopa or oral dopamine agonists. However, the long-term complications and limitations of this treatment might be improved by changing therapy from the present pulsatile stimulation to a more constant stimulation of central dopamine receptors. Stimulation of these receptors may be possible with non-oral drug delivery treatments. Many of these non-oral options have been evaluated during the last few decades to find a more continuous drug delivery. The non-oral treatment options include invasive measures such as intraduodenal levodopa, subcutaneous apomorphin and most recently, the non-invasive transdermal (patch) delivery system, with the novel dopamine agonist rotigotine (Aderis Pharmaceuticals Inc.). The benefits of the non-oral, more continuous dopaminergic treatment of PD needs to be demonstrated in clinical trials and long-term clinical practice, before they can be considered as potential replacements of the standard oral therapy.

Keywords: continuous stimulation; non-oral treatment; Parkinson’s disease; rotigotine

Document Type: Meeting report

Publication date: 2003-04-01

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