Georg Ebersbach, MDS 2020 – Opicapone’s Potential as a First-line Adjunctive Therapy for Motor Fluctuations of Parkinson’s Disease

Georg Ebersbach (Movement Disorders Clinic, Beelitz-Heilstaetten, Beelitz, Germany) kindly took the time to talk us through the findings of his presentation entitled: Opicapone’s added benefit as a first-line adjunctive therapy to levodopa and when used promptly in the motor fluctuations spectrum of Parkinson’s disease: a post-hoc analysis of BIPARK-I and II.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifiers for the two large multinational trials included in this post-hoc analysis, that previously demonstrated efficacy and safety of opicapone for end-of-dose motor fluctuations in Parkinson’s disease: NCT01568073 and NCT01227655, respectively.

Questions
1. What impact do motor fluctuations have on patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD)? (0:06)
2. Could you give us a brief overview of the main findings of the BIPARK-I and II studies supporting the use of opicapone in PD? (0:47)
3. What was the rationale for the post-hoc analysis you presented? (1:54)
4. What were the findings of this analysis? (2:24)
5. What are the implications of these findings in terms of the optimum use of opicapone in routine clinical practice? (3:35)

Disclosures: Prof. Ebersbach reports receiving honoraria for lectures and advisory board activities from BIAL, the manufacturer of opicapone.

Support: Interview and filming supported by Touch Medical Media.

Filmed as a highlight of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society MDS Virtual Congress 2020.