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Rees: I am ending my first six months in the study and am about to enter the phase in which I am guaranteed to receive the drug. For the first 6 months, participants receive either real drug or placebo without knowing which they are getting. If I was getting placebo I will now get two years of drug. If I was getting drug, I will get it now for 18 months more. It takes dedication to be in the study. The drug is self administered twice daily by injection and you have to visit Philadelphia every six weeks for an evaluation during the first six months and less often thereafter. The study is joint with another at the University of Pennsylvania, study a procedure called SPECT scan. In lay terms, this is a procedure which (they believe) can count the nerve endings (or some such) in the brain and once a baseline test is done, comparative tests over time would give an indication of the progression, regression or other possible status of the disease. We are asked not to discuss our opinions concerning the efficacy of the drug on us with others who are in or contemplating joining the study in order not to influence attitudes toward the study one way or another since some of the testing involves subjective questioning over time of the participants. I will say that I jumped to join the test on the off-chance that the drug works and I can't understand why anyone within hailing distance of the test site in Philadelphia wouldn't be eager as well. I live in Connecticut, 150 miles door to door and I make the trip willingly. There are others in the study who fly in for their evaluations. Think of it! A possible cure or a neuroprotective result if it works. The only downside I can observe is the requirement that to remain in the study, you must keep your PD medicine levels fixed for three months before joining and for the first six months of the study. I developed edema in my legs, presumably from my Requip dose, 4 months into the study. The obvious answer would have been to wean off Requip until the edema disappeared and then try another Agonist. The study people agreed but that would have meant leaving the study because of the aforementioned fixed drug regime requirement, an outcome which was less desirable for me than getting rid of the edema. So I lived with the edema for the sake of remaining in the study. I will experiment with my meds as a solution against the edema when my initial 6 month period is over in a few weeks and the fixed meds regime is no longer a requirement. In case I got too windy for my answer to be meaningful' I'll summarize in short: JOIN. Regards, Paul H. Lauer