Levodopa is the standard therapy for Parkinson disease, but prolonged use promotes the development of adverse motor effects. A new trial compared the effectiveness of levodopa administration early in the disease with therapies that used alternative dopaminergic agents before levodopa. No clinically relevant differences were found between the treatment strategies.
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The author has served as a scientific advisor for and received honoraria from AbbVie, Britannia, Boerhinger Ihghelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Impax, Lundbeck, Novartis, Servier, Teva, UCB and Xenoport.
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Rascol, O. Can a new trial end controversy over when to use levodopa?. Nat Rev Neurol 10, 488–489 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2014.147
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2014.147