October 20, 2014

expert reaction to side-effects of Parkinson’s drug

Researchers investigating previously known side effects of pharmaceuticals used to treat neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease have suggested that more warning labels should be included in packaging of these medicines.

Prof Guy Goodwin, President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) and Professor of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, said:

“While the use of dopamine agonists has long been known to lead to compulsions of the kind described, and are true side-effects of the drugs themselves, the present paper does little to establish their clinical significance or true frequency.

“The actual numbers of events is quite small in this sample and their actual consequences need to be assessed in individual cases.

“It would be premature to issue ‘black box’ warnings on the basis of the present findings alone. Moreover, such warnings are very likely to deter doctors from prescribing effective drugs for a disabling neurological disease.”

‘Reports of Pathological Gambling, Hypersexuality, and Compulsive Shopping Associated With Dopamine Receptor Agonist Drugs’ by Moore et al. published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday 20^th October.

Declared interests

None declared