Monday, May 30, 2011

Safinamide for Parkinson's Dyskinesia

Safinamide has been shown in animal models to inhibit glutamate release. Levadopa treatment is believed to cause glutamate release. Studies in primates show that levadopa-induced dyskinesia can be blocked by safinamide.
In a study of 214 patients with PD and dyskinesia, those that received 100 mg/d of safinamide experienced a reduction of 24 % compared to placebo.
AAN 2011 annual meeting

Tinnitus Treatment

University of Texas, Dallas researcher Navzer Engineer,PhD.reversed the physiological and behavioral correlates of tinnitus in noise-exposed rats by pairing a range of tone frequencies with peripheral nerve stimulation of the vagus nerve.
Nature 2011; 470:101-4

Parkinson's and Pesticides

University of Colorado investigators have found that higher concentrations of four pesticides - simazine, atrazine, metachlor and alachlor - in groundwater increases PD risk. For every 10 mcg/L increase of pesticide levels in drinking water the risk for PD increased by 3%. Samples they obtained ranged from 0.0005 - 20 mcg/L.
This study follows from W. Langston's discovery of a bad batch of heroin that had been contaminated with a neurotoxin MPTP that lead to an outbreak of individuals with a Parkinson's disease-like symptom complex. MPP+ is the toxic metabolite of MPTP and is very similar to paraquat, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. To date, there have been over 50 studies linking pesticides/herbicides with PD.

Monday, May 16, 2011

New Oral MS Drug Reduces Relapses

Oral Laquinimod reduced MS relapses by 23% in phase III trial as reported by Giancarlo Comi at the AAN meeting in Hawaii. Most importantly, Laquinimod reduced cerebral atrophy by 33%. The drugs novel mechanism of action addresses inflammatory activity and accumulation of irreversible tissue damage. Also importantly the side effect was low especially compared to fingolimod (Gilenya) released this past year. Teva produces Laquinimod