The rotigotine patch is effective at increasing "on" time for people who are in the later stages of Parkinson's disease. Today, SCHWARZ PHARMA announced the publication of an article titled, "Advanced Parkinson Disease Treated with Rotigotine Transdermal System: PREFER Study," in the April 17th issue of the journal Neurology. This is exciting, because we anticipate the rotigotine patch will be approved in the next few months. It will be a boon for people who are currently having a hard time eating, speaking, and standing up.
The author and lead investigator of the study, Peter A. LeWitt, M.D., of the Wayne State School of Medicine stated, "Many advanced-stage PD patients experience multiple daily increases in Parkinsonian symptoms between each dose of medication. By providing continuous drug delivery, this study demonstrated that the rotigotine patch can greatly improve the consistency of PD symptom control throughout the day."
In this study there were two groups. The placebo group got a patch with no medication in it. Interestingly the placebo group averaged an improvement of 0.9 hours of additional "on" time. Yes, the placebo effect is pretty powerful. The second group got patches with rotigotine in them. They experienced 2.5 hours of additional "on" time.
The most commonly reported adverse events that occurred in patients receiving rotigotine were application site reactions, somnolence (sleepiness), nausea and vomiting, and dizziness.
We'll tell you more about the second treatment, CERE-120 tomorrow. It is entering Phase II clinical trials. There is a big meeting of doctors tomorrow, where they will talk about it. We'll provide some information from that meeting.
