Delayed administration may improve entacapone effects in parkinsonian patients non-responding to the drug.
BACKGROUND
Entacapone is a COMT inhibitor used in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, as an adjunctive therapy to L-dopa in order to prolong its bioavailability and thus its clinical effect. However, previous studies reported entacapone-induced L-dopa to have lower C(max) and delayed t(max) values, coupled with a delayed onset of the clinical effect, possibly suggesting an interference between the two drugs. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether a delayed entacapone administration in association with standard L-dopa/carbidopa, may in some subjects improve the entacapone effects on L-dopa AUC and thus on the clinical 'on time' duration.


METHODS
Twenty-eight idiopathic advanced PD patients were blindly evaluated in three different test days, following administration of carbidopa/L-dopa or carbidopa/L-dopa plus co-administered entacapone or plus entacapone administered with 30 min of delay.


RESULTS
The AUC, the 'on time' and UPDRS score of the whole group were improved by both modalities of entacapone administration. An ex post analysis showed that the delayed entacapone administration produced a significant improvement in a subgroup of 10 non-responding patients to the co-administration.


CONCLUSIONS
We suggest that the delayed administration should be attempted in the subjects not improved by entacapone co-administration.
Brusa
L
L
Clinica Neurologica, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Bassi
A
A
Lunardi
G
G
Fedele
E
E
Peppe
A
A
Stefani
A
A
Pasqualetti
P
P
Stanzione
P
P
Pierantozzi
M
M
D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001682:Biological Availability; D002230:Carbidopa / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002396:Catechols / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004347:Drug Interactions; D004351:Drug Resistance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009570:Nitriles; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D002396:Catechols; D009570:Nitriles; D007980:Levodopa; C071192:entacapone; D002230:Carbidopa