The biggest efforts in Parkinson’s disease have been to figure out ways to slow down this condition and then down the road consider ways that will stop or even potentially reverse the progression of Parkinson’s disease. These efforts have been underway for more than 20 years starting as early as 1980s with attempt with vitamin E in high doses (DATATOP Study) along with selegiline a newly discovered agent at that point.
Those efforts failed and vitamin E was found to be futile for any detectable improvement in slowing down Parkinson’s disease but a side outcome of that study was finding that selegiline may actually improve the future of PD patients suggesting some form of neuro protection or slowing down of the disease. This was followed by discovery of a newer compound rasagiline which was studied extensively to look for slowing down of the disease and came pretty close to being proven but did not make it completely through.
