Abstract
Many patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) experience motor complications,
which negatively impact quality of life, despite optimized oral therapy. It is important
for patients to have a treatment option that may provide rapid relief from “off” episodes.
In three pivotal, randomized, placebo-controlled trials, subcutaneous apomorphine
was effective in acutely treating “off” episodes, significantly improving Unified
Parkinson Disease Rating Scale motor scores and reducing the number of “off” hours
per day, with a significantly shorter time to patient-declared onset of relief than
placebo. Thus, clinical trial data support the efficacy of intermittent subcutaneous
apomorphine as a rapid acute treatment for “off” episodes in advanced PD.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
July 18,
2007
Received in revised form:
July 13,
2007
Received:
February 7,
2007
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.