GSK's ReQuip fares well vs Schwarz' Neupro

UK pharmaceutical major GlaxoSmithKline says that its dopamine agonist ReQuip (ropinirole) was superior to Germany-based Shwarz Pharma's rotigotine, in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

The London-headquartered firm says that the agent was 17% more effective than rotigotine in both overall responder rate and absolute change in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale parts II and III. The superiority of oral treatment with ropinirole was found to be consistent across all data analysis from the initial six-month double-blind trial. The data also show that over 90% of patients on rotigotine were on maximal dose at the end of the six-month period.

The German drugmaker recently launched its dopamine agonist in the UK as a transdermal patch sold as Neupro (Marketletter April 10).