Epilepsy Drug May Help Parkinson's Patients
Tuesday, January 2, 2007; 12:00 AM
Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved. TUESDAY, Jan. 2 (HealthDay News) -- An epilepsy drug may ease Parkinson's disease symptoms when other drugs fail, according to a study out of Japan. The study, published in the Jan. 2 issue of Neurology, included 279 Parkinson's patients who were not responding well to the commonly used drug, levodopa, to manage their symptoms. The participants were randomly assigned to take 25, 50 or 100 milligrams a day of the drug zonisamide, or a placebo pill. At least 30 percent of the participants who took zonisamide experienced a more than 30 percent improvement in a score used to follow the progression of the disease. Those taking 50 milligrams of zonisamide saw the greatest improvements -- an almost 40 percent improvement in their scores. advertisement
"Zonisamide treatment improved all main Parkinson's disease symptoms in these patients, including tremor and other disabling dyskinesias. This is consistent with findings from other, smaller studies," lead author Miho Murata, with the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry in Tokyo, said in a prepared statement. The study lasted only 12 weeks, but the researchers continued to follow a group of 17 of the participants to study the long-term effects of the drug. Those participants were followed for more than a year, and the benefits of zonisamide were maintained during that time. The most common side effects associated with zonisamide were drowsiness, apathy, weight loss and constipation. Since it is not fully understood how zonisamide works to help Parkinson's patients, further study is needed. "Zonisamide is safe, effective and well tolerated at 25 to 100 milligrams a day as an added treatment in patients with Parkinson's disease," Murata said. The study was supported by Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, the pharmaceutical company that developed zonisamide. More information The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about Parkinson's disease. Related Links
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