Natural dietary supplement and psychoactive drug, levodopa is found in certain foods and herbs.
Levodopa
is a naturally occurring dietary supplement and psychoactive drug found in
certain foods and herbs, and it is synthesized in the mammalian body and brain
from the amino acid L-tyrosine.
Levodopa,
also known as L-Dopa, is a chemical building block that the body converts into
dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical messenger that is released in the brain. It
acts as a bridge between pleasure, cognition, and memory. Almost all patients
are given the dopamine precursor levodopa, which effectively controls
Parkinson's disease (PD) symptoms in the early stages of the disease. Carbidopa
is frequently combined with levodopa-containing drugs to increase efficacy by
slowing dopamine metabolism.
What
is the purpose of levodopa?
The combination of levodopa and carbidopa is
used to treat Parkinson's disease and Parkinson-like symptoms that may develop
after encephalitis (brain swelling) or nervous system injury caused by carbon
monoxide or manganese poisoning.
What effect does levodopa have on
Parkinson's disease?
The
most commonly prescribed Parkinson's medication is levodopa (also known as
L-dopa). It is also the most effective at controlling the condition's symptoms,
particularly slow movements and stiff, rigid body parts. When you take
levodopa, your brain cells convert it into dopamine.
The development of novel formulations and
efficient drug delivery methods for levodopa is expected
to drive levodopa growth. For example, a clinical study for Intec
Pharma Ltd.'s gastric retentive Accordion Pill, an immediate drug release
formulation, is currently in clinical phase III and is expected to be completed
in September 2018. Accordion Pill is a Carbidopa/Levodopa (AP-CD/LD)
combinational oral drug delivery system that uses efficient gastric
retention and specific release mechanism to improve the efficacy and safety of
existing CD/LD drugs.
Levodopa growth is expected to be hampered by
a shortage of drug supply in the market as a result of delays in manufacturing
and supply. Merck Sharp & Dohme Ireland (Human Health) Ltd., for example,
predicted a stock shortage of some Sinemet (Carbidopa/Levodopa) products in the
Irish market in the near future due to global manufacturing delays in
production and demand for resupply of these products in September 2018.
Source-
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