First Ever Patch for Treating Parkinson's Disease Symptoms

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Ijeoma Eleazu, PharmD

Okay, the photo might be a blast from the past for some but you'll get the connection by the time you get to the end of this post!

Today the FDA approved the first ever skin patch for treating the symptoms of early Parkinson's disease. Neupro (Rotigotine) belongs to a class of drugs known as dopamine agonists. The patch, manufactured by Schwarz Pharma, delivers a continuous dose of the medication through the skin over a 24-hour period and will need to be replaced every day.

Common side effects of the patch include reactions of the skin at the application site, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness, and insomnia. All these side effects are not uncommon for this particular class of drugs. Outside of these more common side effects some potential safety concerns include the possibility of hallucinations, sleep attacks (suddenly falling asleep while performing routine activites such as driving or operating machinery), and a drop in blood pressure upon standing up.

Neupro will be available in doses of 2, 4, 6, and 8mg per 24-hour patches in a silicone base.

Photo courtesy of carla216

Labels: dopamine, michael j. fox, parkinsons, patch

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