Hi everybody, I thought you all might like to read this short report from 'The Parkinson' the quarterly journal of the Parkinson Disease Society here in the UK.
"Neupro approved in Europe for all stages of Parkinson's disease"
'Schwartz Pharma's transdermal patch for Parkinson's has now been approved in Europe for for the treatment of of the signs and symptoms of advanced stage Parkinson's in combnation with levdopa'
'The patch otherwise known as Neupro [registered], is ndicated for the treament of of the signs and symptoms oof early stage Parkinson's as monotherapy or in combination with levdopa, over the course of the diisease, through to late stage when the effects of levdopa become inconsistent.'
Neupro [r] with the active ingredient rotigotine, is a dopamine agonist [which attempts to compensate for the lack of dopamine that occurs in people with pd] formulated as a patch to allow the delivery of thed rug through the skin. The patch s applied to the skin once a day and provides rotigotne continuously to the body for 24 hours. This allows the level of the drug to remain constant. Multinational clinical studies with patientss n both early and late stages of pd have shown efficacy and safety in people with pd and a potential for long term benefit.' 
I have been on the paptches since last October and can vouch for their efficacy ON ME. The interesting thng about this report is that it doesn't explain that, just because the drug has been cleared to be used, that in individual countries it may not be funded on cost/beneft grounds. In England it is funded, in Scotland iit isn't. In the UK we have a system of central funding and those people in work pay only $10 or so towards the cost of each prescription but the individual health board for England & Wales and for Scotland have to agree to fund the treatment.
The cost to my GP's budget [MD] is currently about $200 equivalent per month's supply.
I amonly thankful I don't live in Scotland. The only down side is the appearance after a few months of ugly red squares on your arms and legs which can become an irritant but this seems a small price to pay as I have been aware of no other side effects using the patches but only time wll tell. Last year this treatment was so new my neurologist wasn't aware of it. [Members of the PDS wee made aware ofits impending llicensing].
So, be hopeful and ask your neuro what he can do to hurry the FDA up and give a better opportunity than carrying around cocktails of drugs wiith you - this should help relieve the load.
Thanks for reading and thanks for a great ste..
The Bear