Pramipexole Approved By The EMEA

Boehringer Ingelheim and Pharmacia & Upjohn have been granted approvalfor their Parkinson's disease drug pramipexole in all 15 countries of the European Union by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency. The EMEA approved the drug for the treatment of advanced Parkinson's disease in combination with levodopa when the effect of levodopa wears off or becomes inconsistent.

Pramipexole, a non-ergot dopamine D2/D3 agonist, was launched in its first market, the USA, earlier this year (Marketletter July 14). A spokesman for P&U would not comment on launch schedules for Europe, beyond saying that this would occur on a country-by-country basis.