Apomorphine infusion found to be effective treatment for Parkinson’s patients with motor fluctuations

Apomorphine subcutaneous infusion is an effective treatment for Parkinson patients whose motor fluctuations are poorly controlled by conventional therapies. This was shown by the large-scale TOLEDO study presented at the Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) in Amsterdam.

A new study proves that apomorphine subcutaneous infusions reduce OFF time in Parkinson patients, in other words, times of motor deficit. "Our results provide high-level evidence that apomorphine infusion is an effective treatment method for Parkinson patients whose motor fluctuations are inadequately controlled by other therapies," said leading investigator Adjunct Professor Dr. Regina Katzenschlager from the Donauspital in Vienna, Austria. She presented the main findings of the TOLEDO study at the 3rd Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) in Amsterdam.

Previous findings on treatment with infusions had shown that apomorphine shortens the OFF time in Parkinson patients, improves dyskinesia and reduces the need for orally administered levodopa. Its efficacy has now been confirmed for the first time in a controlled clinical study.

Patients from 23 centers in seven countries were randomized to receive either apomorphine subcutaneous infusion or placebo saline infusion for twelve weeks. Apomorphine infusion brought about a considerable reduction in OFF time and a substantial prolongation of ON time without troublesome dyskinesia. The efficacy of the infusion was also perceived as better by the patients in the apomorphine group than by those in the placebo group. Dr. Katzenschlager: "The medication was well tolerated. We detected no unexpected adverse effects. The study results should encourage us to prescribe to our Parkinson patients with severe motor fluctuations this effective therapy, which has been all too rarely used thus far."