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>HEllo readers: >I'm aware that Emory is actively engaged in the new antiparkinson drug >trial of Tolcapone, and that it is already being used in Europe. >Tolcapone, a COMT inhibitor, supposedly works on patients experiencing >stable response to L-dopa. It prolongs the elimination of L-dopa, >therefore allowing it to work for a longer period of time. > >I'm wondering if anyone on the network uses Tolcapone? > >If anyone does, I would be interested in knowing what the standard dosage >is in Europe? And what side effects there are with this drug? Or anything >else? > >Please let me know by noon tomorrow, if possible. >Thanks, >Millie SEaman Millie >Extract from previous posting from Ernie Peters giving extract from article by Professor Jenner Two drugs for potentiating the effect of L-DOPA are under development. These compounds, called Entacapone (Orion, Finland) and Tolcapone (Hoffmann-LaRoche, Switzerland) act by preventing the breakdown of L-DOPA by an enzyme called catechol O-methyl transferase (COMT). Both inhibit COMT activity and prolong the duration of effect of each dose of L-DOPA. These should be launched in 1998.. These drugs are not available in the UK and it looks as if they are still in trial in the rest of Europe but I am not certain. David Langridge