Lixisenatide Reduces Motor Disability Progression in Parkinson Disease

THURSDAY, April 4, 2024 (HealthDay News) — For patients with Parkinson disease, lixisenatide yields less progression of motor disability than placebo, according to a study published in the April 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Wassilios G. Meissner, M.D., Ph.D., from the French Clinical Research Network for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder in Toulouse, and colleagues conducted a phase 2 randomized trial involving patients with Parkinson disease. Participants who were diagnosed less than three years earlier, receiving a stable dose of medications to treat symptoms, and did not have motor complications were randomly assigned to daily subcutaneous lixisenatide or placebo for 12 months in a 1:1 ratio (78 participants in each group) followed by a two-month washout period.

The researchers found that scores on the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) part III had changed by −0.04 points and 3.04 points in the lixisenatide and placebo groups, indicating improvement and worsening disability, respectively. After a two-month washout period, at 14 months, the mean MDS-UPDRS motor scores were 17.7 and 20.6 with lixisenatide and placebo, respectively, in the off-medication state. Nausea and vomiting occurred in 46 and 13 percent, respectively, of participants receiving lixisenatide.

“The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist lixisenatide had a three-point beneficial effect, as compared with placebo, in the change over a 12-month period from a baseline value of approximately 15 points on a 132-point scale measuring motor disability,” the authors write.

Sanofi provided the medication and placebo for the study.

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