What is Parkinson’s end-of-agent phenomenon

  The end-of-dose phenomenon is a phenomenon of decreasing efficacy in the late stage of long-term application of levodopa for Parkinson’s disease, mainly manifested by the increasingly short duration of levodopa’s efficacy maintenance, for example, the efficacy of compound levodopa can be maintained for about 4 hours at the early stage of medication, and after 2 to 3 years of administration, the efficacy of compound levodopa can only be maintained for 3 hours or even shorter, and if the number of doses is not increased, the interval between doses will be Parkinson’s disease symptoms worsen or the symptoms worsen in the early morning.  The effective countermeasure when Parkinson’s patients experience end-of-dose phenomenon is to increase the number of doses of levodopa and shorten the dosing interval, or to use Xanax controlled-release tablets. The half-life of levodopa is only 1 hour, which is relatively short. Increasing the number of doses of levodopa or using a controlled-release tablet can maintain the steady-state plasma drug concentration in an effective therapeutic concentration range.  If this method does not improve the end-of-dose phenomenon, the dose of levodopa can be increased appropriately or the symptoms can be improved by combining with dopamine receptor agonists (Senfuro, Tysudar), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (Sergene), COMT inhibitors (Tolcapone, Entacapone), etc.