Ropinirole prolonged release: in advanced Parkinson's disease

Ropinirole prolonged release is a non-ergoline dopamine receptor agonist that is indicated for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. * Once-daily ropinirole prolonged release and three-times-daily ropinirole immediate release have similar exposure over 24 hours. The prolonged-release formulation is associated with fewer fluctuations in plasma ropinirole concentrations. * Two well designed, placebo- or active comparator-controlled trials examined the efficacy of ropinirole prolonged release in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease suboptimally controlled by levodopa. In the placebo-controlled trial, 24 weeks' therapy with ropinirole prolonged release 6-24 mg once daily reduced hours of 'off' time (primary endpoint) to a significantly greater extent than placebo. In the active comparator-controlled trial, significantly more ropinirole prolonged-release recipients than ropinirole immediate-release recipients maintained a >or=20% reduction from baseline in 'off' time at week 24 (primary endpoint). *Ropinirole prolonged release 6-24 mg once daily was generally well tolerated in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease; adverse events were generally typical of non-ergoline dopamine receptor agonists.