ROPINIROLE VERSUS BROMOCRIPTINE IN THE TREATMENT OF EARLY PARKINSONS-DISEASE - A 6-MONTH INTERIM-REPORT OF A 3-YEAR STUDY

We compared the efficacy and safety of ropinirole with chat of bromocr iptine after 6 months of treatment in a planned interim analysis of a 3-year, double-blind, randomized, multicenter study of 335 patients wi th early Parkinson's disease requiring dopaminergic therapy, Patients, treated with or without selegiline, received either ropinirole or bro mocriptine. The mean Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) total motor examination scores (Part III) at baseline were similar in the four strata. Overall, and in the non-selegiline subgroup, the perc entage improvement in the UPDRS total motor examination score was sign ificantly higher for ropinirole than for bromocriptine, as was the pro portion of ''responders.'' In the selegiline subgroup, however, there was no significant difference between treatments, Similarly, in the no n-selegiline subgroup, there was a significantly higher proportion of ''improvers'' on the Clinical Global Impression scale with ropinirole than with bromocriptine, whereas in the selegiline subgroup, there was no significant difference. Emergent adverse events occurred in 80% of patients in both treatment groups, the principal symptom in each grou p being nausea. The incidence of serious ado verse events was low (3% for ropinirole, 6.6% for bromocriptine). The data indicate that (a) in the absence of selegiline, ropinirole is effective and superior to br omocriptine; and (b) selegiline does not affect the response in patien ts treated with ropinirole, but enhances the effects of bromocriptine.