Patch Eases Tremors of Parkinson’s ; Good Health

A SKIN patch has proved effective in treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

A study involving 277 people in Canada and the U.S. with earlystage Parkinson’s assessed the Neupro patch, which is made by Germany’s Schwarz Pharma and is already available in Britain.

It delivers the drug rotigotine, which acts in the same way as a brain chemical that has been found to be deficient in people with the disease.

Patients who wore the patch showed a significant easing of their symptoms after six months of treatment. Those receiving a placebo saw their symptoms get worse, the study by the University of Alabama found.

The patch is applied once a day and delivers rotigotine continuously through the skin.

Around 120,000 people in Britain have Parkinson’s disease, an incurable condition that affects nerve cells in the area of the brain that controls muscle movement, and is characterised by a shortage of the brain chemical dopamine.

Rotigotine imitates the effects of dopamine and helps make up for the shortage.

The disease’s main symptoms are trembling in the hands, arms, legs, jaw and face, along with muscle rigidity, slowness of movement and impaired balance and co-ordination. The symptoms, which worsen over time, usually develop after the age of 60.

The study did not directly compare the patch to the current treatment of pills taken at least three times a day to treat symptoms.

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