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news.Requip, a drug manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, has been shown to delay the return of Parkinson's symptoms, known as "off" time, by an average of more than two hours when added to an existing therapy.
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The data was presented at the annual European Federation of Neurological Societies Congress.
The 24-week study involved patients with Parkinson’s disease not adequately controlled with levodopa (L-dopa). The extended-release form of Requip used in the study was a 24-hour dosage formulation not yet approved by the FDA.
“Patients have indicated that the return of Parkinson’s disease symptoms as their L-dopa dose wears off can be problematic for them,” said Rajesh Pahwa, Professor of Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center. “We are excited about the results of this study, which showed that patients benefited from an average reduction of 2.1 hours in awake time spent ‘off.’ In other words, many patients were able to manage their Parkinson’s disease symptoms for a longer period of time when adding Requip 24-hour extended-release to their treatment regimen.”
Requip, in its immediate-release formulation, is dosed three times daily and has been shown to be effective in treating the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease as a single therapy or adjunct to L-dopa.
GlaxoSmithKline conducted this study as part of the clinical development program for the investigational 24-hour extended-release tablet dosage formulation of Requip.
The new formulation has been developed in collaboration with SkyePharma and is based on SkyePharma oral controlled release proprietary technology.