Re: Help Re Tolcapone Usage

[David Langridge <davidl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>HEllo readers:
>I'm aware that Emory is actively engaged in the new antiparkinson drug
>trial of  Tolcapone, and that it is already being used in Europe.
>Tolcapone, a COMT inhibitor, supposedly works on patients experiencing
>stable response to L-dopa.  It prolongs the elimination of L-dopa,
>therefore allowing it to work for a longer period of time.
>
>I'm wondering if anyone on the network uses Tolcapone?
>
>If anyone does, I would be interested in knowing what the standard dosage
>is in Europe?  And what side effects there are with this drug?  Or anything
>else?
>
>Please let me know by noon tomorrow, if possible.
>Thanks,
>Millie SEaman


Millie

>Extract from previous posting from Ernie Peters giving extract from article
by Professor Jenner

Two drugs for potentiating the effect of L-DOPA are under development.
These compounds, called Entacapone (Orion, Finland) and Tolcapone
(Hoffmann-LaRoche, Switzerland) act by preventing the breakdown of L-DOPA by
an enzyme called catechol O-methyl transferase (COMT).  Both inhibit COMT
activity and prolong the duration of effect of each dose of L-DOPA.  These
should be launched in 1998..


These drugs are not available in the UK and it looks as if they are still
in trial in the rest of Europe but I am not certain.


David Langridge