Advance in pharmaceutical preparations of the dopamine receptor agonist rotigotine for the treatment of Parkinson's disease

Rotigotine is a non-ergoline D3/D2/D1 dopamine agonist for the treatment of Parkinson's disease(PD). It showed significant antiparkinsonian and neuro-protective effects. This paper mainly describes the advance in the pharmaceutical preparations of rotigotine which can achieve continuous dopaminergic stimulation( CDS) for the treatment of PD. Rotigotine transdermal delivery system(Neupro) provided 24-h continuous drug levels that would improve efficacy and reduce motor complications. Rotigotine loaded microspheres(RoMS) displayed continuous-release characteristics of rotigotine in animals and the plasma drug level lasted for 2 weeks,indicating that RoMS could achieve CDS for the treatment of PD.