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Defining disease‐modifying therapies for PD—A road map for moving forward
Author(s) -
Warren Olanow C.,
Kieburtz Karl
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
movement disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.352
H-Index - 198
eISSN - 1531-8257
pISSN - 0885-3185
DOI - 10.1002/mds.23288
Subject(s) - medicine , disease , clinical trial , confounding , intervention (counseling) , drug , intensive care medicine , physical therapy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychiatry
Abstract A disease‐modifying therapy that slows or stops disease progression is one of the major unmet needs in the management of Parkinson's disease. To date, no therapy has been approved for disease modification despite promising laboratory data and positive results in clinical trials. This is because confounding symptomatic or pharmacologic effects cannot be excluded. The delayed start study provides an opportunity to define therapies that provide benefit that cannot be explained by an early symptomatic effect alone. However, this trial design does not necessarily provide a meaningful measure of the effect of the intervention on cumulative disability. In contrast, the long‐term simple study provides a measure of the effect of the drug on cumulative disability but does not address mechanism of action. Together these two trials provide a road map for defining a disease modifying drug and determining the long term cumulative effect of the drug on the disease. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society