The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved safinamide (Xadago) tablets as an add-on treatment for patients with Parkinson’s disease who are currently taking levodopa/carbidopa and experiencing “off” episodes.
“Parkinson’s is a relentless disease without a cure,” says Eric Bastings, deputy director of the Division of Neurology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “We are committed to helping make additional treatments for Parkinson’s disease available to patients.”
The efficacy of safinamide in treating Parkinson’s disease was shown in a clinical trial of 645 participants who were also taking levodopa and were experiencing “off” time. Those receiving safinamide experienced more beneficial “on” time, a time when Parkinson’s symptoms are reduced, without troublesome uncontrolled involuntary movement (dyskinesia), compared to those receiving a placebo. The increase in “on” time was accompanied by a reduction in “off” time and better scores on a measure of motor function assessed during “on” time than before treatment.
In another clinical trial of 549 participants, the participants adding safinamide to their levodopa treatment had more “on” time without troublesome uncontrolled involuntary movement compared to those taking a placebo, and also had better scores on a measure of motor function assessed during “on” time than before treatment.
Certain patients should not take safinamide. These include patients who have severe liver problems, or who take a medicine used to treat a cough or cold called dextromethorphan. It also should not be taken by patients who take another medicine called a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) because it may cause a sudden severe increase in blood pressure, or by those who take an opioid drug, St John’s wort, certain antidepressants (such as serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, tricyclics, tetracyclics, and triazolopyridines), or cyclobenzaprine, because it may cause a life-threatening reaction called serotonin syndrome.
The most common adverse reactions observed in patients taking safinamide were uncontrolled involuntary movement, falls, nausea, and trouble sleeping or falling asleep (insomnia).
