Apomorphine hydrochloride: a sublingual tablet for the OFF episodes in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is one of the commonest neurodegenerative disorders, particularly in those over 60 years of age. Although the introduction of levodopa was a tremendous advance in its treatment, the condition is a progressive one. It has been found that the longer patients have the condition and are treated with levodopa, the more likely they are to develop OFF episodes in which their ability to do things becomes increasingly limited. The development of a sublingual apomorphine hydrochloride film (APL-130277, Kynmobi) was designed to alleviate this OFF condition by allowing the patients to experience rapid relief of their OFF episodes up to 5 times a day.