Introduction

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic debilitating disease that affects approximately 1% of the population over the age of 60. Apomorphine, as a potent dopamine receptor agonist, is used to treat patients who have become poorly responsive to treatment or have developed adverse side effects associated with chronic levodopa treatment.

Technical features

Although apomorphine is a very effective drug, its effect on administration to patients is limited to 30-40 minutes. This is due to its high instability, limited pharmacokinetics, low bioavailability and rapid clearance from plasma; to date it is in fact necessary to administer apomorphine parenterally, with inconvenient and technically difficult methods of administration. The proposed formulation consists of a toxicity-free polysaccharide nanostructure capable of incorporating apomorphine, ensuring its stabilization and release in physiological environments for over 24 hours following oral administration.

Possible Applications

• Treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease poorly responsive to treatment with levodopa;
• Reduction of “off” conditions that may occur in Parkinsonian patients;
• Treatment of Parkinson’s disease in addition to standard therapy, in order to reduce levodopa dosages and the consequences related to the chronic levodopa syndrome.

Advantages

• Stabilization of apomorphine;
• Use of nano-vectors free of any form of toxicity;
• Prolonged release of the active ingredient;
• Oral administration of apomorphine.