I came across this report, and thought that there might be some interest among the group.
Diane McHutchison
[log in to unmask]
----------
SmithKline offers hope on Parkinson's
Reuter Corporate World News
LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuter) - Sufferers of Parkinson's Disease were offered fresh hope on Friday when SmithKline Beecham Plc launched a new drug to combat the incurable condition. Studies show Ropinirole, marketed under the brand name Requip, is effective in the early stages of Parkinson's disease, which affects around 100,000 people in Britain. The disease took centre-stage at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in July when former boxing champion Mohammed Ali, who suffers from Parkinson's, lit the Olympic flame. SmithKline said on Friday it hopes Requip will be of particular benefit to younger sufferers of the disease.
It said the drug, which is being launched in Britain first, may allow doctors to delay use of the current "gold standard" drug Levodopa, marketed Merck & Co under the name Sinemet CR. Levodopa, which was a major advance in treating Parkinson's, has the disadvantage of inducing severe involuntary twisting and writhing movements as a side effect in long-term use.
Parkinson's is a progressive illness which attacks the nervous system, often disabling sufferers for more than a decade before it proves fatal.
Early symptoms include trembling, muscular stiffness and slowing of body movement which gradually develop into loss of control affecting facial muscles, the throat, feet, limbs and neck. Speaking at the launch of Requip, doctors said the new drug increases the treatment options open to them. Consultant geriatrician Douglas MacMahon of the Camborne Redruth Community Hospital in Cornwall quoted one of his patients as saying "the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease is like getting a death sentence." MacMahon said Requip "is offering something new, a reprieve from that death sentence." Andrew Lees of the National
Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery stressed "it is not a cure, but we think it may be useful for a significant proportion of patients.
Long-term assessment of the full impact of the drug, which is costed at 3.31 stg per day, will continue for another decade. SmithKline Beecham said Requip, which was developed at its Harlow research base in England, is its first ever neurological drug. A spokesman said France and the USA are likely to be the next target markets after the U.K.
-- Jonathan Birt, London Newsroom 6 September, 1996
