A double‐blind comparison of levodopa, madopa, and sinemet in Parkinson disease

Abstract

A sixteen-week study examined the effect of Madopa and Sinemet on patients with Parkinson disease disease suffering nausea or vomiting as side-effects of levodopa therapy and compared the efficacy of the three preparations in controlling the symptoms of Parkinson disease. Following a control period on levodopa, 20 patients underwent four consecutive four-week regimens as follows: (1) double-blind, in which a randomized half received levodopa and half received Madopa; (2) single-blind, in which all received Madopa; (3) double-blind, in which a re-randomized half received Madopa and half Sinemet; and (4) single-blind, in which all received Sinemet. Levodopa administration via Sinemet and Madopa was held to a fixed 20% of prior levodopa dosage. Almost all patients showed great reduction in nausea and vomiting with both Madopa and Sinemet. Seventy percent of the patients showed improvement in disability compared to their levodopa baseline levels. Group means showed no difference between the improvement seen on Madopa and that seen on Sinemet. However, examination of individual responses showed that the majority of patients fared distinctly better on either Sinemet or Madopa.

A Five-Year Study of the Incidence of Dyskinesia in Patients with Early Parkinson's Disease Who Were Treated with Ropinirole or Levodopa

“…in blocking dopa decarboxylase in the periphery. 22,23 Blinding of the study was maintained with the use of a double-dummy technique. Sealed copies of the randomization code were held by the principal investigator at each site and by the study sponsor.…”

Clinical Pharmacokinetics of Anti-Parkinsonian Drugs

“…Benserazide [( ± )-DL-seryl-(2,3,4-trihydroxybenzyl)hydrazine] is available in most markets (but not the USA) in capsules containing benserazide 25mg and levodopa 200mg as Madopar®. The clinical effects of carbidopa and benserazide are, in practice, identical (Diamond et al 1978) and they will be discussed together.…”

The Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS): Status and recommendations

“…1 Prior to its development, multiple scales, including the Webster, 2 Columbia, 3 King's College, 4 Northwestern University Disability, 5 New York University Parkinson's Disease Scale, 6 and UCLA Rating Scales, 7 were used in different centers, making comparative assessments difficult. The development of the UPDRS involved multiple trial versions, and the final published scale is officially known as UPDRS version 3.0.…”