Development of new levodopa treatment strategies in Parkinson’s disease—from bedside to bench to bedside

Abstract

This review will illustrate the process of moving from an idea through preclinical research and Galenic developments into clinical investigations and finally to approval by regulatory agencies within the European Union. The two new treatment strategies described, levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel and levodopa/carbidopa microtablets, for advanced Parkinson’s disease, have been developed in collaborative research within departments at Uppsala University. With this historical approach, reference priority is given to reports considered to be of special importance for this more than two decades long process ‘from bedside to bench to bedside’.

Keywords:

• Carbidopa
• drug development
• intestinal gel
• levodopa
• microtablets
• Parkinson’s disease

Disclosure statement

S.-M.A. was co-founder and board member of NeoPharma Production AB in the 1990s, and is co-founder and board member of Sensidose AB. D.N. has acted as a consultant to NeoPharma Production AB, Solvay, and Abbott/AbbVie until 2012, and to Sensidose AB until 2013, and has received lecture fees from AbbVie.

Notes on contributors

Sten-Magnus Aquilonius, MD, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of neurology at Uppsala University and former Consultant Neurologist at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden.

Dag Nyholm, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor at Uppsala University and is employed as Neurologist at Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden.