ABSTRACT

The MONOCOMB study was a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial initiated to examine the impact of selegiline monotherapy on time to the start of levodopa therapy and, subsequently, to compare the progression of PD in patients treated with individualized levodopa plus selegiline or placebo.

Previously untreated patients with idiopathic PD (N 5 157) were randomized to receive selegiline 10mg/day or placebo until levodopa was required; experimental medication was then withdrawn for 8 weeks. Patients were then randomized to levodopa (50mg/day, titrated in 50mg/day increments to 150mg/day) plus either selegiline or placebo. Treatment was continued until patients required additional antiparkinsonian therapy or up to 7 years after initial randomization. The primary efficacy outcome for the monotherapy phase of the study was time to introduction of levodopa. Primary efficacy endpoints for the combined therapy phase were: time to development of fluctuations in disability; and time to the addition of supplementary antiparkinsonian treatment.

Selegiline significantly delayed the time when levodopa therapy became necessary during the monotherapy phase, although mean total UPDRS scores at time of initiation of levodopa were similar in both groups. Selegiline was also associated with improvements in PD symptom status and disability as reflected in a broad range of well-established indices. After the 8 week wash out period the disability of the clinical condition of the patients in the selegiline group was still significantly better in the selegiline group than in the placebo group.