Journal
DRUG DESIGN DEVELOPMENT AND THERAPY
Volume 15, Issue -, Pages 2507-2517Publisher
DOVE MEDICAL PRESS LTD
DOI: 10.2147/DDDT.S302673
Keywords
glutamate; motor fluctuations; Parkinson's disease; safinamide
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Safinamide is a recently approved drug for fluctuating Parkinson's patients with a unique dual mechanism of action. Research suggests it can improve motor functions and fluctuations, as well as some non-motor symptoms, benefiting patients' quality of life.
Introduction: Parkinson's therapeutic interventions are only symptomatic. An optimal treatment should therefore address the largest number of motor and non-motor symptoms, to manage patients at best. Safinamide is one of the most recent approved drugs for fluctuating patients, in add-on to levodopa, that remains the gold standard treatment. It has a unique mechanism of action, both dopaminergic (as MAO-B inhibitor) and glutamatergic (through Na+ channel blockade). Results from Phase III trials, post-hoc analyses and real-life experiences suggest a beneficial effect on motor (such as tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity and gait) and non-motor (pain, mood, sleep) symptoms. Areas Covered: Here, the authors discuss clinical efficacy and safety of safinamide, identifying the patients' profiles that could benefit most. A search in PubMed was performed in September 2020, with no time limits. Publications' abstracts were reviewed. Conclusion: Safinamide is peculiar due to its double mechanism of action. Its benefits in improving motor functions and fluctuations, and some non-motor symptoms, could have a valuable impact on patients' quality of life (QoL), together with its safety profile.
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