Objective: To assess the impact of opicapone – a third generation COMT Inhibitor – on motor and non-motor wearing off symptoms in patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease (PD) in a monocentric observational study.

Background: PD patients in an advandes stage often suffer from fluctuations. Opicapone has been shown to reduce daily OFF time in PD patients. Here, we evaluated the impact of opicapone on the severity of motor and non-motor off symptoms in PD patients.

Method: 57 patients (23 female, mean age of 67.9 years, SD ± 8.7 years, 11.5 years disease duration, ± SD 6.8 years), were assessed at baseline and 3 months after administration of opicapone. Twenty patients (11 female, mean age of 65.6 years, SD ±9.7 years, disease duration of 10.6 years, SD ± 6.5 years) were reevaluated after 12 months. The primary outcome measure was the Wearing Off Questionnaire 9 (WOQ-9) score, ranging from 0 to 9 points, with higher scores indicating more severe wearing off symptoms. The WOQ-9 was also analyzed according motor (sub-score 0 – 4) and non-motor components (sub-score 0 – 5).

Results: 3 months after administration of opicapone, WOQ-9 significantly decreased from 5.54 [median 6] to 3.70 [median 2] points (p < .05). 43 patients (75.4%) improved, 12 patients showed no change and 2 patients had a worsened WOQ-9 score. Both sub-scores significantly improved (both p < 0.05; motor sub-score from 3.39 [median 3] to 2.63 [median 3] points, non-motor sub-score from 2.16 [median 2] to 1.07 [median 1] points). In the motor sub-analysis, the scores for 30 patients improved, were unchanged for 26 patients and worsened for 1 patient. In the non-motor sub- analysis, the scores for 37 patients improved, 17 remained stable and 3 worsened. One year after the introduction of opicapone, patients showed a sustained improvement of the WOQ-9 score (baseline 5.2 [median 5], 3 months 3.8 [median 4] points and 12 months 3.8 [median 4] points). The results could not be explained by adjustment of levodopa dosage or changes in any other Parkinson medication (p > .05).

Conclusion: These real-world data show a significant improvement in the WOQ-9 score after the introduction of opicapone in patients suffering from PD. Opicapone improved both motor as well as non-motor symptoms. The beneficial effect of opicapone on the severity of wearing off symptoms was sustained throughout the entire observation period of 12 months.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/opicapone-improves-motor-and-non-motor-wearing-off-symptoms-in-parkinsons-disease-an-observational-real-world-study/