Medications
Levodopa/carbidopa, dopamine agonists, MAO-B inhibitors, COMT inhibitors, amantadine, anticholinergics, istradefylline and symptom-management drugs.
In this category
State of the art
No update yet for Medications. An update is a standalone state-of-the-art for the topic — what someone with Parkinson's needs to know about where this approach stands today.
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Levodopa increases substantia nigra iron: implications for Parkinson's disease Levodopa formulations
The study raises a mechanistic concern applicable to all levodopa formulations: that the drug may raise nigral iron as a side-effect of its metabolism, a finding relevant to discussions about when to start levodopa and at what dose. -
Phase 3 trial of solengepras for Parkinson’s disease now fully enrolled Levodopa formulations
The ARISE trial tests solengepras specifically as an add-on to existing levodopa therapy, addressing the gap of patients whose off time is not adequately controlled by levodopa alone — a common and persistent problem in long-term disease management. -
Vyalev eases motor, nonmotor symptoms in advanced Parkinson’s Levodopa formulations
ROSSINI provides the first prospective real-world effectiveness data for foslevodopa/foscarbidopa (Vyalev) — a subcutaneous prodrug formulation — showing comparable efficacy to its Phase 3 trial results and a safety profile consistent with prior controlled studies, including ~6% rates of hallucinations and infusion-site infections. -
Addressing Care Partner Burden from the Underrecognition of Iatrogenic Sexual Behavior Changes in Parkinson's Disease Dopamine agonists
The paper highlights that dopamine agonist-induced hypersexuality — an impulse-control side effect affecting an estimated 1 in 7 people on these drugs — is frequently unrecognised as medication-caused by the care partner, compounding relationship distress and delaying the medication adjustment (dose reduction or switch) that would typically resolve it. The authors frame under-disclosure of this risk at prescribing as a specific, preventable driver of care-partner harm. -
The biological clock in parkinson’s disease: mechanisms and chronotherapy
Introduces chronotherapy — deliberately aligning levodopa and other PD drugs with the body's daily rhythms — as a strategy that may improve symptom control and reduce side effects without changing the drug itself. The evidence base is still mostly preclinical and small-scale clinical, so there are no formal time-of-day dosing guidelines yet, but it's a concrete conversation to have with a neurologist about matching dose timing to one's own symptom pattern. -
Parkinson's Disease.
Levodopa/carbidopa remains the gold-standard symptomatic treatment, and the review provides a current map of adjunct agents—dopamine agonists, MAO-B inhibitors, COMT inhibitors—and how they are sequenced as disease advances. It also introduces the concept that genetic subtype (e.g., LRRK2 vs. GBA1 carrier) may eventually guide initial drug choice as targeted therapies mature.