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Dawn Mercer's Health Alert: Parkinson's Disease drug (Columbia) Dec. 5, 2003 - A few month ago David Bonthron had a hard time walking. And, his wife, Freda, says he couldn't even consider golfing, "I would have to cut his meat. I almost had to feed him sometimes. I had to wash him." David has advanced Parkinson's Disease. Like many patients, as his disease progressed, he says his medication became less effective, "If I was standing to hit the ball, I couldn't get this leg to move most of the time." Now, David easily strikes ball after ball as Freda looks on, "When I'm watching him here, it's wonderful. It's so different than from what he was before." Neurologist Robert Hauser says what David experienced happens to many Parkinson's patients who have spent years taking a dopamine medication, "They take it. It lasts a few hour. It wears off, and then they get their slowness, stiffness and tremors back." But, a new study shows, when dopamine drugs like Sinemet wear off, the new non-dopamine drug Istradefylline steps in, "The quality of what they can do relates to in relation to the medication is working, and as the study demonstrated Istradefylline gives them more of that good quality time through the day." The amount of time patients have tremors, slowness and stiffness is reduced by nearly two hours a day. For David it meant a chance to go back to the game he loves, "It's been really good for me. It's put me back on my feet, period." Istradefylline isn't all good news. Safety concerns have come up in animal studies recently, and the human studies are temporarily on hold. This Sunday at 3:00pm researchers from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke will be speaking at the Columbia Parkinson's Support Group meeting in the Lexington Medical Park auditorium. The researchers will be talking about how Parkinson's patients and their families can be part of a national study. For more information on the 3:00pm meeting call 732-1363 or email [log in to unmask] by Dawn Mercer - posted 1:49pm by Chris Rees SOURCE: WISTV, SC http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=1552786&ClientType=Printable Reference: Lexington Medical Park 2720 Sunset Boulevard, West Columbia, S.C. 29169 (803) 791-2000 http://www.lexmed.com/lmcmob.htm http://www.lexmed.com/maps.htm Researchers from Kyowa Pharmaceuticals have temporarily halted human trials of a drug to treat Parkinson’s after safety concerns surfaced in animal studies. http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=7196 Istradefylline (KW-6002) Reduces Advanced Parkinson's Disease Symptoms http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/23854A.htm Listen to Dr. Robert Hauser on Istradefylline... http://www.wusf.usf.edu/wusf-fm/programming/highlights/Sound_Files/Parkinson's_Drug_11-16-03.asf * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn