A drug tested in people with Parkinson's disease improved measures of daily living and will now be submitted for regulatory approval in the United States, the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society said. The findings come from the ARISE clinical trial and were presented at the society's International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders in Seoul.
Patients, who can have difficulty moving, reported improvements in measures of daily living, and the treatment restored their "good" movement time for an average of 36 more minutes a day than their regular medication alone, according to the society. The drug, solengepras, is to be submitted to the Federal Drug Administration in the United States for approval.
Ron Postuma, chair of the congress's scientific program committee, said the self-reported improvements were larger than might be expected from a 36-minute difference in "on" time, and that there was more to explore about the drug's possibilities. Drooling and saliva was the most significant self-reported change, and other outcomes included improved daytime sleepiness.
The society said solengepras works differently from other drugs currently on the market, and that its progress could open the door for further innovations using similar techniques. It describes itself as an international society of more than 12,000 clinicians, scientists and other healthcare professionals, with more information available at its website.
