Comparison of ropinirole controlled- and immediate-release in Japanese patients with advanced Parkinson's disease

Efficacy of Adjunctive Therapy with Zonisamide Versus Increased Dose of Levodopa for Motor Symptoms in Patients with Dementia with Lewy Bodies: The Randomized, Controlled, Non-Inferiority DUEL Study

BACKGROUND

In patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), it is unknown whether adjunct zonisamide is as effective and safe as increasing levodopa dose when levodopa has inadequate efficacy on parkinsonism.

OBJECTIVE

To compare adjunct zonisamide 25 mg/day versus an increased levodopa dose (increased by 100 mg/day) in patients with DLB treated with levodopa ≤300 mg/day for parkinsonism.

METHODS

The DUEL study was a multicenter, randomized, controlled, open-label, parallel-group, interventional, non-inferiority trial. During the observation period, levodopa was administered at ≤300 mg/day for 4 weeks. Subsequently, patients were randomized to receive adjunct zonisamide 25 mg/day or levodopa increased by 100 mg/day.

RESULTS

Respective adjusted mean changes in MDS-UPDRS Part III total score at 16 and 24 weeks (primary endpoint) were -6.3 and -4.4 in the zonisamide add-on and -0.8 and 2.0 in the levodopa increase groups. The adjusted mean difference at 24 weeks was -6.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] -13.5, 0.7); the upper limit of the 95% CI (0.7) was lower than the non-inferiority margin (3.0). No significant between-group differences were observed in total scores of the MDS-UPDRS Part II, Eating Questionnaire, EuroQol-5 dimension-5 level, Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview, or other secondary endpoints. No notable between-group differences were observed in adverse event incidences.

CONCLUSION

Adjunct zonisamide 25 mg/day may yield moderate improvement in motor symptoms in patients with DLB when the levodopa effect is insufficient, but it could not be verified that the zonisamide 25 mg/day was as effective as levodopa 100 mg/day because levodopa showed no sufficient efficacy as assumed.

Indirect Comparison of Ropinirole and Pramipexole as Levodopa Adjunctive Therapy in Advanced Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis

INTRODUCTION

To evaluate the comparative efficacy and safety of ropinirole and pramipexole as adjunctive therapies to levodopa (L-dopa) for the management of advanced Parkinson's disease (PD), via a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

METHODS

Twenty-one double-blind randomised controlled trials of patients with advanced PD with motor fluctuations receiving L-dopa comparing ropinirole or pramipexole with comparators were identified from 2550 publications. Bayesian indirect comparison methods were applied to independently review efficacy outcomes including off-time reduction, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-Activity of Daily Living (UPDRS-ADL) and UPDRS-motor scores, and safety outcomes including adverse events (AE) and patient withdrawals, to determine indirect treatment comparison mean differences (MD) or hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS

The indirect efficacy comparison resulted in a statistically nonsignificant off-time reduction difference (hours) of ropinirole-sustained release (SR) versus pramipexole-immediate release (MD - 0.25; 95% CI - 0.71, 0.21) and ropinirole-SR versus pramipexole-extended release (ER) (MD 0.18; 95% CI - 0.40, 0.76). Ropinirole-SR adjunctive treatment showed a tendency towards more improvement in UPDRS-ADL score (MD 1.24; 95% CI 0.23, 2.24) than adjunctive treatment of pramipexole-ER. Pramipexole-ER may be less likely to induce somnolence as an AE compared with ropinirole-SR (HR 0.46; 95% CI 0.23, 0.89). However, there were no statistically significant differences in UPDRS-motor score reduction, incidence of dyskinesia, hallucination, hypotension, insomnia and nausea, or withdrawals due to AE, for any reason.

CONCLUSION

Adjunctive therapy with ropinirole-SR or pramipexole appears to offer similar efficacy and tolerability in patients with advanced PD on the basis of this indirect comparison.

FUNDING

GSK.