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Relative to Judith Richards' recent post about Hoffmann-LaRoche, here's another item from my personal drug files: CABERGOLINE (Dostinex): A non-ergot D2 agonist known for its exceptionally long dose interval requirement and relatively mild adverse effects. Despite successful trials both in new PD patients and late-stage patients with fluctuations, it is offered not as PD therapy but as treatment for hyperprolactinemia. Prolactin, the hormone that promotes lactation in women after giving birth, is secreted by the pituitary and regulated by dopamine from the hypothalamus. Cabergoline is significantly more effective and freer from adverse effects than bromocriptine, the other D2 agonist commonly prescribed for hyperprolactinemia, as well as pergolide and levodopa in early-stage PD, and needs to be taken only once a day. Failure to have cabergoline approved for PD therapy, in spite of its superior value, is apparently a business-related decision. Upjohn, the firm which introduced cabergoline about ten years ago, was taken over and absorbed by Pharmacia Inc., developers of pramipexole (Mirapex), which is just entering the market at the peak of its patent protection value. Evidently, the corporate owners don't want competition against Mirapex from within their own house. Cheers, Joe -- J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 3527 Cody Road Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013