Tavapadon, a drug made by AbbVie to treat Parkinson’s disease, met phase 3 TEMPO-1 trial goals treated early Parkinson’s disease and improved motor skills, the company reported on Thursday.
Tavapadon is an investigational D1/D5 dopamine receptor partial agonist that researchers are studying to be used as a once-daily treatment for Parkinson’s disease. People taking two different fixed doses of the medication — 5 mg and 15 mg — showed significant improvements compared with people taking placebo.
The trial included 529 participants between the ages of 40 and 80. All the participants had the disease for less than three years. The trial lasted for 27 weeks.
In addition to improvements according to the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, the drug also improved motor skills. The majority of adverse events reported were mild to moderate.
In another late-stage trial, tavapadon improved symptom control in patients when it was tested as an add-on therapy to levodopa, which is a standard medication used to treat the disease.
Tavapadon was also studied as a flexible-dose monotherapy, and results of that trial are expected by the end of the year, AbbVie said in a Reuters article.
“The TEMPO-1 data, coupled with the previously reported TEMPO-3 adjunctive trial findings, further support the potential of tavapadon for people living with Parkinson’s disease,” Primal Kaur, MD, senior vice president, immunology, neuroscience, eye care and specialty development at AbbVie, said in a statement. “This marks a significant step forward in our commitment to enhancing our neuroscience portfolio following the strategic acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics and further demonstrates our dedication to supporting patients at all stages of this challenging neurological condition. We look forward to sharing additional data later this year from the TEMPO-2 monotherapy trial.”
