Release issued 28th April 2009

Stalevo will retain Decision Resources' gold-standard status through 2017 for Parkinson's Disease, according to a new report from Decision Resource

April 28, 2009 - Waltham, Mass. - Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that a once-daily transdermal formulation of Levodopa would earn a 30 percent patient share in Parkinson's Disease in both the United States and in Europe, according to surveyed U.S. and European neurologists.

The new report entitled Parkinson's Disease: A Transdermal Formulation of Levodopa Would Tap into a Significant Opportunity in This Mature Market also finds that surveyed neurologists identify a therapy's effect on Levodopa-induced motor response complications as one of the key attributes that strongly influences their prescribing decisions in Parkinson's Disease.

In 2008, Decision Resources' proprietary clinical gold standard for Parkinson's Disease was Novartis/Orion Pharma's Stalevo. Based on available data and expert opinion, Stalevo will retain gold standard status through 2017, owing to its safety and efficacy when compared to other available agents in the market. Interviewed thought leaders indicate that Stalevo has efficacy advantages over the immediate-release formulation of Boehringer Ingelheim's Mirapex/Mirapexin/Sifrol.

"In particular, Stalevo scores higher on each of the top three efficacy metrics weighted by surveyed neurologists as the most influential in their choice of a Parkinson's Disease therapy," said Decision Resources Analyst Sami Fam, Ph.D. "These metrics are: effect on global symptoms, effect on activities of daily living and/or quality of life, and effect on motor symptoms."

About the Report

Parkinson's Disease: A Transdermal Formulation of Levodopa Would Tap into a Significant Opportunity in This Mature Market is a DecisionBase 2009 report. DecisionBase 2009 is a decision-support tool that provides in-depth analysis of unmet need, physician expectations of new therapies and commercial dynamics to help pharmaceutical companies optimize their investments in drug development.

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