JAMA 2000 Oct;284(15):1931-8

Context: Pramipexole and levodopa both ameliorate the motor symptoms of early Parkinson disease (PD), but no controlled studies have compared long-term outcomes after initiating dopaminergic therapy with pramipexole vs levodopa.

Objective: To compare the development of dopaminergic motor complications after initial treatment of early PD with pramipexole vs levodopa.

Design: Multicenter, parallel-group, double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Read More

JAMA 2002 Apr;287(13):1653-61

Context: Pramipexole and levodopa are effective medications to treat motor symptoms of early Parkinson disease (PD). In vitro and animal studies suggest that pramipexole may protect and that levodopa may either protect or damage dopamine neurons. Neuroimaging offers the potential of an objective biomarker of dopamine neuron degeneration in PD patients. Read More

Arch Neurol 2009 May;66(5):563-70

Department of Neurology, University of Rochester, 1351 Mt Hope Ave, Ste 220, Rochester, NY 14620, USA.

Objective: To compare the long-term outcomes of subjects initially treated with pramipexole dihydrochloride with those of subjects initially treated with levodopa in the Comparison of the Agonist Pramipexole With Levodopa on Motor Complications of Parkinson's Disease (CALM-PD) trial.

Design: Up to 2 years of open extended follow-up of the CALM-PD subjects.

Setting: Academic movement disorders clinics at 22 sites in the United States and Canada. Read More

JAMA 1997 Jul;278(2):125-30

Context: Monotherapy with dopamine agonists may be useful in early Parkinson disease.

Objective: To evaluate dose-response relationships for tolerability, safety, and efficacy of the synthetic dopamine agonist pramipexole.

Design: Multicenter, multidosage, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial. Read More