Kyowa Hakko Kirin_Kyowa Hakko News

September 20, 1999

Phase II clinical study of an antiparkinson agent started in the USA

  Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd. (President: Tadashi Hirata) is pleased to announce that a phase II clinical study of KW-6002 (clinical study number) under development as an antiparkinson agent, for which Investigational New Drug application (IND) was filed with FDA and has just cleared the authorities' review, is started in the USA this September.
  Parkinson's disease is considered to be caused by the nervous system imbalance resulting from a deficiency in dopamine, one of intracerebral chemical mediators. L-DOPA preparation which supplements the dopamine deficiency is most commonly used in the treatment of this disease; however, it is associated with many adverse reactions such as involuntary movement and vomiting as well as drug resistance, so that the development of a new type of drug has long been anticipated.
  KW-6002 which is being developed at the company is thought to specifically block adenosine A_2A receptor in the brain, thereby improving various symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Since this mechanism of action is novel and different from that of the conventional drugs, we expect that KW-6002 will have few adverse reactions related to L-DOPA.
  At present, the number of parkinsonian patients amounts to about two million in the whole world and about 130,000 in Japan. It tends to increase with the rise in aged population, and the market of antiparkinson agents has achieved annual sales of about ¥150 billion in the USA and Europe and about ¥30 billion in Japan.
  Kyowa Pharmaceutical, Inc. (KPI), an affiliate of the company in the USA, is in charge of coordinating the present clinical study of KW-6002. In the field of Parkinson's disease, an excellent new drug has eagerly been awaited all over the world, and we hope to obtain favorable results as early as possible.

We are scheduled to issue about middle of October a book¹⁾ describing the latest knowledge on the new mechanisms of KW-6002 as well as adenosine receptors in the central and peripheral nervous systems through Academic Press.

1)	"Adenosine Receptors and Parkinson's Disease" Edited by Hiroshi Kase, Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd., Peter J. Richardson University of Cambridge, Peter Jenner King's College, London.

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