>>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
>
>The standard dose of Tolcacapone is one pill every six hours
Jerry
