How do the dopamine agonists work?
The dopamine agonists are a class of drugs that directly stimulate the dopamine receptor, so they make up for the dopamine deficiency in Parkinson’s. They cause fewer long-term complications than levodopa-containing compounds such as the wearing-off problem. Their disadvantage is that they’re not as good at controlling the symptoms as levodopa-containing compounds. If you look at control of symptoms, in early disease, dopamine agonists and levodopa are somewhat equal. As the disease advances, however, levodopa-containing compounds are much more effective. What is the current medication strategy for younger people with Parkinson’s disease? We use dopamine agonists in the young-onset patients, and the reason it’s probably more important in them is that these patients are more likely to develop the levodopa-induced dyskinesia and the wearing-off problem. If you’re 40 years old, you probably have 30 or 40 year’s worth of life left, so you have a lot of time to develop these potential compl
