Merck Serono announces ‘promising’ Parkinson’s drug data

Merck Serono and Newron Pharmaceuticals have announced the publication of data suggesting that the use of safinamide in Parkinson’s disease patients has a beneficial effect on cognitive performance.

Information from this 24-week phase III clinical study was presented as a poster at the international congress of the Movement Disorder Society, following the presentation of some of these results at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology last month.

Trial results indicate that, given as an add-on treatment to dopamine agonist therapy, safinamide improves the activities of daily living and motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease patients.

Professor Anthony Schapira, chairman of the University Department of Clinical Neuroscience Royal Free and University College London Medical School, commented that patients can experience the adverse effect on cognitive functions arising from Parkinson’s disease at early stages of the condition.

“These study results suggest that safinamide may have an effect on cognitive performance in patients with early Parkinson’s disease,” he said.

Proffessor Schapira added that consequently, this compound could potentially provide an additional treatment option in an area of unmet medical need.

Newron signed a deal with the company then known as Serono in October 2006, with the latter firm acquiring the worldwide rights to safinamide as a potential treatment for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.