Research advances in pharmacotherapy for Parkinson's disease

Abstract:

Symptomatic dopamine replacement therapy has dominated the pharmacotherapy of Parkinson's disease （PD）. However，long-term use of dopaminergic drugs can induce a variety of problems，such as motor complications，neuropsychiatric dysfunctions，and balance and gait disturbances，which greatly compromise the treatment outcome of patients with PD at an advanced stage. In recent years，substantial progress has been made in pharmaceutical treatment for PD. For symptomatic treatment，novel levodopa formulations，novel dopaminergic agonist formulations，new monoamine oxidase B inhibitors，new catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors，and multiple non-dopaminergic drugs have been approved or on the horizon. Although there are no clinically available disease-modifying medications at present，a variety of such drugs targeting various pathological mechanisms have been in early clinical trials，and some of them have achieved promising results. In addition，some medications for treating other conditions are being re-developed for PD treatment. Here，we provide a review on new advances in this field.