ENTACAPONE EFFICACY IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE

11th September 2014 - New research

A retrospective analysis of randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of

entacapone show that it improves Parkinson's Disease symptoms but often at the expense of

dyskinesia or nausea. Entacapone is marketed as Comtan. In combination with L-dopa and

carbidopa (the active constituents of Sinemet) Entacapone is marketed as Stalevo. 

Entacapone improved daily OFF and ON times by 0.8 hours (48

minutes) compared with a placebo. People taking entacapone also did

better in the standard Parkinson's Disease symptom questionnaire the

UPDRS II, UPDRS III, and also global evaluation. Similar benefits of

entacapone were seen in subgroups of patients with and without

dopamine agonists or selegiline. Entacapone was generally well

tolerated. Dyskinesia and nausea were more frequently reported by

people taking entacapone, with 25% getting dyskinesia and 14%

getting nausea. There was no difference in reports of hallucinations.

The researchers suggest that results of this pooled analysis of entacapone clinical trials

potentially serve as a useful benchmarking data for new therapies, especially those including

L-dopa, in people with advanced Parkinson's Disease.

For more Information go to : http://www.rxlist.com/comtan-drug.htm

Complete abstract : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25186800

Acta Neurologica Scandinavica [2014] Sep 3 [Epub ahead of print] 

(M.Kuoppamäki, M. Vahteristo, J.Ellmén, K.Kieburtz)