New Parkinson's drug gains approval in the US

What is tavapadon?

Tavapadon is a type of drug called a dopamine agonist that works by mimicking the action of dopamine - the chemical that is lost in the brain in Parkinson's - to ease symptoms, such as slowness, stiffness and tremor.

The FDA approval means that Tavapadon, sold under the name Juvmo, will soon be available for people with Parkinson's in the US. It's taken as a once daily tablet, and can be used alongside levodopa for people whose symptoms aren't well managed on levodopa alone.

What's different about tavapadon?

Current dopamine agonists, such as ropinirole, are already available to people with Parkinson's. But they can often result in side effects such as excessive sleepiness, hallucinations, or impulsive behaviours.

Read more about dopamine agonists on our health information page.

However, tavapadon has been developed to target slightly different types of dopamine receptors to create a drug that has fewer troublesome side effects than current dopamine agonists.

Results from a recent phase 3 study of tavapadon run by pharmaceutical company AbbVie showed that the drug could reduce movement symptoms, and shorten 'off' periods. They also showed that over 90% of the people taking tavapadon didn't need an increase in their dose of levodopa medication over the 19 month study.

Importantly, their results also suggested that tavapadon caused fewer, and milder, side effects for most people compared to current dopamine agonists.

What happens next?

At the moment, tavapadon is not approved for use in the UK. To be made available to people with Parkinson's, the drug will first need to go through the approval process set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), followed by additional checks by regulatory bodies in each of the 4 nations.

You can read more about the drug approval process on our research blog.

Claire Bale, our Associate Director of Research, said: "It's great to see tavapadon has been approved by the FDA as a new drug treatment for treating the symptoms of Parkinson's.

"Clinical trials of tavapadon in people with Parkinson's have indicated that it has good effects on Parkinson's symptoms and reduced problems with things like hallucinations, blood pressure changes and impulsive behaviours which can occur with current agonists and limit their use.

"We're encouraged to see this new drug being approved in the US and hope European and UK approvals will follow as soon as possible so that this promising new treatment option can be made available to people with Parkinson's in the UK."