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Yes...David's onset of motor complications came around age 35. Bev ----- Original Message ----- From: "mackenzie" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 2:57 AM Subject: Re: ldopa patch >i love the way motor complications are classified as "late." hmmm let's >see... 60 years old is the average age of onset, and life expectancy is >almost unchanged by the disease at this point in time - the cdc says life >expectancy is 77.6 years on average in the US... levodopa is widely >acknowledged to cause motor complicatiions in 50-80% of people who take it >within 5 years... 'course the younger you are, the more quickly they are >likely to develop, but let's stick to the most widely cited numbers here. > > so that means that on average, a person with onset at 60 years can expect > to remain free of motor complications for 5 out of the 17, on average, > years left to him or her, leaving the remaining 12 years, on average - > negligible, really - to be consumed by the business of trying to have a > life while dealing not only with PD but with the [nearly impossible to > manage] management of the side effects of the gold standard for the > treatment of this disease. > > yes, i suppose i could agree with the characterization of the downhill > slide starting at year five out of 17 as late - if i didn't have PD. > > and the fact that i am only 42 and at year five on a dopamine agonist, > which is starting to become spotty in its efficacy, makes it just that > teensy bit harder. > > i am all for funding research into therapies that will, we hope, push that > downhill mark further and further out, and i think the michael j fox > foundation is doing great things, truly. their efforts are transforming > the field of pd research and they represent our greatest hope. > > but the characterization of the onset of motor complications as "late" is > just plain inaccurate. > > "M.Schild" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: May 14, 2006 - May 20, 2006 > > > Micheal J. Fox Foundation awards funding to Israeli company > May. 14 - NeuroDerm Ltd., based out of Ofakim, Israel, has been awarded > $490,000 by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research. The > award, made under the foundations clinical discoveries program, will > support > clinical work to develop a new transdermal skin patch for continuous > delivery > of levodopa, the natural precursor of dopamine, which is deficient in > Parkinson's disease. The development is innovative, as researchers believe > that dyskinesias - disruptive, jerky movements associated with long-term > levodopa therapy - result from the sharp fluctuations in dopamine blood > levels that occur when levodopa is given orally. NeuroDerm's system is > based > on a proprietary formulation involving a prodrug, levodopa ester (LDE), > which > has been able to maintain steady levodopa levels in animal models. > NeuroDerm > believes that their patch should be able to minimize or even reverse > dyskinesias and other disabling late motor complications. "This Clinical > Discovery Program grant is part of our focus on speeding highly relevant > treatments to people living with Parkinson's disease," said Deborah W. > Brooks, president and CEO of The Michael J. Fox Foundation. "We believe > that > improved delivery through continuous levodopa administration, such as > NeuroDerm's prospective patch aims to achieve, could potentially result in > a > significant improvement in patients' day-to-day lives." > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > > > > --------------------------------- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: > mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > Yahoo! Mail goes everywhere you do. Get it on your phone. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn