There's a new tool in the fight against
Parkinson's disease. The FDA has granted approval
for Azilect® (Rasagiline), a drug developed by
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
researchers. The drug will be available in the
United States this summer, and will be marketed
by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.
The brainchild of Technion Professors Moussa
Youdim and John Finberg, Azilect is the first
once-daily product for the treatment of
Parkinson's, a chronic, degenerative disease
affecting a million people in the United States
(4 million around the world).
Azilect is one of the few treatment options in
the U.S. for all stages of Parkinson's, including
use as a stand-alone early-stage therapy and in
combination with levodopa, a standard treatment
for Parkinson's disease, in more advanced stages
of the disease. The drug is a monoamine oxidase
type-B (MAO-B) inhibitor that blocks the
breakdown of dopamine, a chemical that sends
information to the parts of the brain that
control movement and coordination.
"The approval of Azilect by the FDA represents
important news for people with Parkinson's
disease," said Dr. Warren Olanow, professor and
chairman of the Department of Neurology at Mount
Sinai School of Medicine. "Patients can now look
forward to an effective new treatment option that
improves symptoms and offers the simplicity of
once-daily dosing without having to carefully
measure dosages."
FDA approval is based on data from three large,
multicenter, multinational, double blind,
randomized, placebo-controlled clinical studies
of more than 1,600 patients.
Teva has initiated a large clinical study to
investigate the drug's effect on slowing the
progression of Parkinson's disease.