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New Parkinson's drug wins approval WASHINGTON (January 30, 1998 4:55 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - A new drug for Parkinson's disease that helps current treatments work better won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday. The drug, Hoffman-La Roche's Tasmar, is the first of a new class of drugs called COMT inhibitors. They work alongside the standard treatment for the disease, levodopa, to make it last longer in the brain. Used alongside levodopa, Tasmar, known generically as tolcapone, can improve a patient's ability to function and perform basic daily activities. Roche said clinical studies showed patients with advanced Parkinson's disease gained a daily average of 1.7 to 2.9 cumulative hours of relatively good functioning with the combined therapy. Parkinson's is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's, afflicting about 1 percent of people over age 50, or one to 1.5 million Americans and millions more around the world. The nerves in the part of the brain that controls movement degenerate, creating a shortage of dopamine, which carries chemical messages between nerve and brain cells and is associated with movement and muscle control. Parkinson's effects start with shakiness, which progresses to total loss of muscular control, dementia and death. There is no cure. Drugs can control the disease in its early stages and some people can carry out their normal activities for years. Levodopa, also known as L-dopa, only works well for about five years, after which it starts to wear off. It is not yet clear whether the COMT inhibitors can extend the treatment's useful life. They do, however, help while it is effective by blocking an enzyme known as catechol-O-methyltransferase, or COMT, which breaks down levodopa in the body. This lets almost double the amount of levodopa cross into the brain in a more continuous flow. Well-known people with Parkinson's include evangelist Billy Graham and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. There have also been persistent reports that Parkinson's is the cause of Pope John Paul II's tremor. Copyright © 1998 Nando.net Copyright © 1998 Reuters janet paterson / 50-9 / sinemet-selegiline-prozac / [log in to unmask]