Boehringer Ingelheim combats RLS with pramipexole

Quality of life (QoL) can be significantly improved when patients with Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) are treated with pramipexole, according to the latest research.

Boehringer Ingelheim has announced that the common neurological disorder, characterised by an uncontrollable urge to move the legs, can have a reduced negative impact on quality of life when treated with Sifrol and Mirapexin, drugs containing pramipexole.

In the tests, which involved 344 patients over a 12-week period, survey results showed an improvement in the QoL score of a 19.8 point average for those treated with pramipexole as opposed to an average difference of just 6.4 points for placebo.

“Patients experience a broad range of consequences, such as daytime tiredness, and depressive and anxiety symptoms, such that their quality of life can be dramatically impacted,” said Professor John W Winkelman, medical director of the Sleep Health Centre of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston and the study’s author.

“This latest data is important in that it indicates that, by addressing the underlying RLS symptoms, pramipexole can help patients to regain the quality of life that many of them feel that they have lost.”

Sifrol and Mirapexin are currently approved for use by sufferers of Parkinson’s disease, but an application has been made to include RLS treatment on the label as a use for the drug.

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