Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. from Israel and Lundbeck from Denmark introduced Azilect, also called rasagiline, which was already approved to be used in treating symptoms of Parkinson's. Results of the phase III ADAGIO trial were presented by Teva Tuesday during the 12th Congress of European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS) in Madrid, Spain. Thus there is new hope for the ones suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

The newly available medication slows down the progression of the horrible brain disorder characterized by shakes, memory loss, hallucinations and stiffening of muscles. It usually affects people over the age of 60 and there are four million people worldwide who suffer from this condition.

Professor Olivier Rascol, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital, Toulouse, France, one of two principal investigators of the trial, was the one who unveiled the discovery.

The ADAGIO study was made on 1,176 patients with very early Parkinson's disease in 14 countries and 129 medical centers. Not all of them received the drug, however. Some of them received 1 or 2 mg per day for 72 weeks, while others had a delayed treatment with 36 weeks placebo followed by 36 weeks rasagiline 1 or 2 mg once daily.

The study concluded that there were significant improvements for the ones who started treatment right away compared to those who initiated therapy nine months later.

"Delaying disease progression is the most important unmet need in the management of Parkinson's disease," stated Prof. C. Warren Olanow, professor and chairman of the Department of Neurology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, and ADAGIO co-principal investigator.