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Updated: May 16, 2026

Ole Isacson: Development of New Therapies for Parkinson's Disease
Published on: April 29, 2007
Is there room for non-dopaminergic treatment in Parkinson disease?
Abraham Lieberman1, Narayanan Krishnamurthi
1Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA. abedoc@gmail.com
Abstract:
Although levodopa and dopaminergic drugs remain the mainstay of therapy for the motor symptoms of Parkinson disease (PD), they fail to address many of the non-motor symptoms of PD including orthostatic hypotension, freezing of gait (FOG) and difficulty with balance, drug-induced paranoia and hallucinations, and drug-induced dyskinesias. Droxidopa, a drug that increases norepinephrine, treats orthostatic hypotension, cholinomimetic drugs sometimes help with FOG and difficulty with balance, pimavanserin, a drug that blocks serotonin receptors, treats paranoia and hallucinations, and anti-glutaminergic drugs treat dyskinesias. Thus, there are ample opportunities for non-dopaminergic drugs in PD.
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