April 3, 2012

Dear Friend,

Welcome to FoxFlash, The Michael J. Fox Foundation's monthly update designed to keep the Parkinson's community apprised of MJFF activities and breaking Parkinson's news. Please visit www.michaeljfox.org for more information on any of the stories below, to read archived editions of FoxFlash, and to sign up for our mailing list.

NEUPRO PATCH READY FOR LONG-AWAITED U.S. COMEBACK

An important development today for Americans with Parkinson’s disease (PD): Neupro, the only extended-release dopamine agonist in the form of a skin patch, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the symptoms associated with both early and advanced stage PD, and is expected to return to pharmacy shelves this July.

Developed by pharmaceutical company UCB and initially approved by the FDA in 2007, Neupro patches were withdrawn from the U.S. market in April 2008 when a manufacturing problem made it impossible for UCB to guarantee proper dosing. Now, it appears, those concerns have been addressed.

“The specific benefit of Neupro, like other extended-release dopamine agonists, is that it maintains as constant a level of drug as possible throughout the day, which could translate into longer ‘on’ periods for people with Parkinson’s,” says MJFF associate director of research programs Maurizio Facheris, MD.

Read more about today’s Neupro decision on the Foundation’s blog.