This will lead to a shortage of the popular Parkinson's disease medication, and patients will need to transition to different therapies. There is currently no information about when the shortage will be resolved or if Neupro will be back on the market in the United States.
The recall is due to patches that were not produced to specification. According to an article on Bloomberg.com UCB officials were not satisfied that the medication, rotigotine, was being satisfactorily released into the skin.
Information from UCB assures Neupro users that this recall is not based on safety concerns. "The issue is not one of product contamination or toxicity but rather one of possibly reduced clinical performance of some patches," said Iris Loew-Friedrich, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer, UCB.
Patients using Neupro need to contact their physician and begin the process of down-titration, or gradually reducing the dose. Physicians will help their patients using Neupro through this transition—which may take a few weeks.
One option is to use another dopamine agonist like Mirapex or Requip. Adding or increasing the dosage of other medications may also help Neupro users through the conversion.
Levodopa-based therapies like Sinemet and Stalevo are obvious candidates for Neupro replacements. MAO B inhibitors like Azilect may also help reduce "off" time that will occur as patients titrate down (gradually decrease) Neupro.
My Parkinson's Info is working to interview top Parkinson's disease specialists to pass along additional information that can help Neupro users prepare to work with their doctor through this transition.
Source:
UCB Press Release, March 20, 2008