"Azilect hailed in treatment of Parkinson's: While not a cure, clinical trials have shown it relieves many of disease's symptoms"...(click for more):
"Health canada approves drug;
"Health Canada has approved what some doctors are calling the most significant drug for the treatment of Parkinson's disease in four decades.

Azilect is not a cure for Parkinson's, but clinical trials have shown it's highly effective in relieving the symptoms associated with both the early and late stages of the disease, a Montreal neurologist said yesterday.
Preliminary research also suggests the medication might even slow the progression of Parkinson's, although this must be borne out by further studies.

Gail Bereza, 67, a former daycare worker who has lived with the disease since 1998, said her hand and leg tremors stopped after she started taking the pill once a day in a clinical trial four years ago.
"It's wonderful, marvellous," Bereza said in a phone interview from Windsor, Ont. "I'm much happier. I have my life back."

More than 100,000 Canadians suffer from Parkinson's, a neuro-degenerative disorder that causes shaking, weakness and severe tremors. The disease robs the brain of cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine.
For the last 40 years, neurologists have treated patients with various formulations of levodopa, a drug molecule that is transformed into dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a chemical that acts as a messenger between brain cells that control movement. A decrease in dopamine, in turn, results in involuntary muscle contraction.

Michael Panisset, a neurologist at the Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal, said Azilect can act as a stand-alone drug or help make the standard levodopa more effective.

"I think this drug will be important in many respects," said Panisset, co-director of the Clinique des troubles du mouvement at Hotel Dieu Hospital. "It's been shown to be really good in the early onset of the disease and helpful in the later stages, when patients start to have fluctuations. This drug will help stabilize their response to levodopa."

For reasons that are still unclear to neurologists, an enzyme in the body - called monoamine oxidase type B - degrades levodopa in the brain. Azilect is part of a new class of drugs called monoamine oxidase inhibitors, which prevent the enzyme from interfering with levodopa.
Azilect might also act as a form of artificial dopamine, protecting the brain as well as making levodopa more efficient, Panisset said.

People with Parkinson's, especially in the later stages, fluctuate between on-stages, when they respond well to their medications, and off-stages, when they suffer from tremors.

"With this medication, we've seen a decrease in the number of off-periods," said Panisset, who was in charge of 20 patients at his clinic who took Azilect as part of a trial. "As a result, the patients are more active."
Bereza said she has experienced far fewer off-stages with Azilect. "When you get these off-times, you start feeling tired. It's difficult to perform household duties. There seems to be a weakness in your arms and legs."
Another advantage of Azilect is that it's taken once a day. At present, some patients have to take medications five times a day.