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Join today<\/a><\/p>\n \n Already a member? A new pill for Parkinson\u2019s disease<\/a> is raising hopes of a breakthrough in treatment after a trial suggested it reduced the symptoms that hit sufferers\u2019 quality of life. <\/p>\n The drug, called solengepras, cut the time when patients had \u201coff\u201d periods, when they felt unwell or stiff, slow or shaky<\/a>.<\/p>\n Patients also felt less sleepy and functioned better, the scientists said.<\/p>\n Existing treatments for Parkinson\u2019s work by increasing dopamine, which is reduced in the brains of sufferers, but those drugs may cause nausea, hallucinations and involuntary movements, usually of the limbs.<\/p>\n Solengepras works differently, blocking a receptor called GPR6 that slows down movement. It was developed to reduce the risk of such side-effects.<\/p>\n Cerevance, the US clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that developed the new drug, said it offered great hope for future treatments.<\/p>\n Parkinson’s<\/a> is the world\u2019s fastest growing neurological condition. Around 166,000 people in the UK have been diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s, according to Parkinson’s UK and 21,000 more have it without a formal diagnosis. More than 10 million people worldwide live with the disease.<\/p>\n The randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involved 341 people with Parkinson\u2019s across the US, Europe<\/a>, UK and Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n They were randomly assigned to receive either 75mg or 150mg of solengepras or a placebo, once a day for 12 weeks. They continued to take their dopamine-based drugs.<\/p>\n Both the patients taking solengepras and those taking the placebo improved over the trial, but the higher-dose solengepras group reported having nearly 37 minutes less \u201coff\u201d time each day, when their dopamine drugs were not working properly, than those on the placebo, and about an hour-and-a-half less \u201coff\u201d time than before the trial.<\/p>\n They also had about 36 extra minutes a day of \u201con\u201d time without dyskinesia \u2013 movement problems \u2013 compared with the placebo group. Activities such as dressing, eating and getting around were easier, as well.<\/p>\n The drug appeared well tolerated, with no serious side effects, the researchers said, although some people reported headaches and urinary tract infections.<\/p>\n Ceverance says it will discuss the results with the US Food and Drug Administration<\/a> to determine the next steps, and the pill could potentially be prescribed to patients within three years.<\/p>\n Doctors say motor \u2013 or movement – fluctuations are one of the hardest side-effects to control in Parkinson\u2019s patients, but solengepras offers hope of doing so.<\/p>\n
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