TORONTO, Ontario (Tuesday, April 16, 2002) -- The D2/D3 dopamine agonist ReQuip® (ropinirole) significantly slows the loss of dopamine function when compared to the older generation treatment for Parkinson’s Disease levodopa (L-dopa), according to the results of the important new REAL-PET study1, announced today at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Denver, Colorado.
This study provides clear evidence that ReQuip slows the loss of dopamine function in the brain when compared to traditional treatment with L-dopa. Loss of dopamine function is a key indicator, or surrogate marker, of Parkinson’s Disease progression.
“The results of this study are very exciting. ReQuip has been shown to slow the progression of dopamine dysfunction associated with Parkinson’s Disease. This was demonstrated in both the striatum and the basal ganglia,” commented Professor David Brooks, lead investigator and Hartnett Professor of Neurology at the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK. “These results should certainly stimulate debate about the way we treat early Parkinson’s Disease.”
The REAL-PET (ReQuip as Early Therapy versus L-dopa – PET) study is a multicentre, double-blind, parallel-group trial using a state-of-the-art computer brain imaging technique called three-dimensional positron emission tomography (3D PET), specifically designed to evaluate changes in 18F-dopa uptake (a surrogate marker for the quantity of functioning dopaminergic brain cells). The study randomised 186 early Parkinson’s Disease patients in a 1:1 ratio for two years of treatment with either ReQuip or L-dopa.