Those diagnosed with Parkinson's disease should start on rasagiline medication as soon as possible to get a protective effect against disease progression. The drug slows the progression of a devastating degenerative brain disease that eventually robs people of their ability to move and function.
© AFP/File Frederic J. BrownJanuary 27, 2009, (Sawf News) - Those diagnosed with Parkinson's disease should start on rasagiline medication as soon as possible to get a protective effect against disease progression. The drug slows the progression of a devastating degenerative brain disease that eventually robs people of their ability to move and function.
A new study looking at the long-term effects of rasagiline (Azilect) on newly diagnosed patients indicates that people who began the drug earlier continued to do better than those for whom treatment was delayed six months.
"Patients who received rasagiline right from the beginning rather than after a six-month delay experienced less progression of the clinical signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease that interfere with activities of daily living such as eating, walking and dressing," said the study's lead author Robert A. Hause of the University of South Florida Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center. "This is potentially consistent with a slowing of underlying disease progression, although other possible mechanisms also need to be considered."
In a study known as TEMPO, more than 400 untreated patients with early Parkinson's disease were randomly assigned to rasagiline for a year (1 mg daily or 2 mg daily) or to placebo for six months followed by rasagiline for six months (2 mg daily). At the end of a year, patients receiving rasagiline from the start fared better as measured by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. They experienced less worsening of motor symptoms, such as rigidity and tremor, and had fewer problems with activities of daily living than patients who began rasagiline six months later.
In the extended study of 6.5 years, the researchers found those who started rasagiline right from the beginning of the TEMPO study continued to fare better than patients in the delayed-start group. Over the course of the entire study, the early-start group had 16 percent less progression of the signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease, and this greater clinical benefit was observed even as patients received conventional Parkinson's disease medications in addition to rasagiline. Rasagiline appeared to be well tolerated in this long-term study.
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