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AAN: Ropinirole May Retard Disease Progression in Parkinson’s Disease Patients By Jill Stein Special to DG News DENVER, DO -- April 16, 2002 -- New findings suggest that the newer generation D2/D3 dopamine agonist ropinirole (Requip) significantly slows disease progression in Parkinson’s disease patients compared to levodopa (Sinemet), long considered the mainstay of treatment. The data, reported at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), are from the Requip as Early Therapy versus L-dopa-PET (REAL-PET) study. Dr. David Brooks, MD, of Hammersmith Hospital in London, England and associates used three-dimensional positron emission tomography (PET) to evaluate changes in putamen 18F-dopa uptake in 186 de novo Parkinson’s disease patients who had been randomized to treatment with ropinirole or levodopa for two years. The change in putamen F18-uptake is a surrogate marker for Parkinson’s disease progression. Based on an analysis of all PET scans, the reduction in 18F-dopa putamen uptake was up to 35 percent less in the brains of patients treated with ropinirole compared to levodopa. (p=0.022). The results appear to confirm those of a pilot 18F-dopa PET study that found a trend towards 20 percent slower disease progression in ropinirole- versus levodopa-treated patients. The study also found that ropinirole-treated patients experienced significantly fewer dyskinesias than levodopa-treated patients (3 percent versus 27 percent for the two groups, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups with respect to improvement in Clinical Global Impression scores at the start of the trial and after one year of treatment. After initial improvement in the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) for both groups, scores for the ropinirole group returned to their baseline values, while those for the levodopa cohort remained improved. Study author Dr. Ray Watts, of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, United States said he is extremely pleased with the results of the trial because it is one of the first investigations to document slowing of the rate of loss of dopamine in Parkinson’s disease patients. E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version