CLINICAL EFFICACY OF SINGLE MORNING DOSES OF DIFFERENT LEVODOPA FORMULATIONS

For many patients with Parkinson's disease and levodopa-related motor fluctuations, the latency to onset of action of a single dose of a sta ndard levodopa preparation may be both long and variable. The long-act ing levodopa preparations now available have a very long latency to tu rn ''on'' patients because of their pharmacokinetic characteristics. T his article reports the results of a previous study on the clinical ef ficacy of a single morning dose of levodopa methylester (250/50), Mado par Dispersible (2 x 100/25), and Sinemet Plus (2 x 100/25). We also r eport the preliminary results of a clinical and pharmacokinetic study comparing the single administration of Madopar HBS (HBS) and the combi nation of HBS with either Madopar Dispersible or Madopar 125 mg. The r esults of the first study show that the liquid forms of levodopa are q uicker to produce the clinical response than the solid forms. The prel iminary results of the second study show that the combination of Madop ar Dispersible and HBS may provide clinical advantage in fluctuating p arkinsonian patients, ensuring a short latency to ''on'' and a prolong ed clinical effect.