Apo pen offer new lease of life for Parkinson's patients

CHENNAI: Tremours and unsupported gait should not be a bother to Parkinson’s patients, as a path-breaking treatment developed at the King’s College Hospital London, can rid the problem within six minutes of administering the injection, says India-born Dr Vinod Metta, consultant interventional neurologist & movement disorders specialist, King’s College and Imperial Hospitals, London, who has been part of the medical team that researched the breakthrough.

 “I would say the Apo Pen and Apo Pump offers a new lease of life for Parkinson’s patients in India. The Apomorphine therapy is alternate option for the patients in India, as it revolutionises, transforms the patients’ health and care besides significantly impacting overall quality of life,” Dr Vinod who was on a consultation visit to the Vijaya Hospitals said.

Explaining with video presentation, he said a patient who could not even stand or move his limbs properly due to continuous tremors, got up and walked merely after six minutes of administering the injection. “Of course, not all patients require this treatment. This would apply to those not responding to oral medicines. As surgery in this case is very expensive and result unfavo-urable, this alternate therapy would ensure a new lease of life for Parkinson’s patients in India,” he said.

The Apo Pen, which resemble an insulin injection, costs around '1,500 while Apo Pump would cost about Rs 40- 45,000. These and other medicines would be imported. The pump can be fixed outside or kept in pocket. Asked about its efficacy, he replied, “this will treat the symptoms and stop the progression of the disease. There is no complete cure in neurology. The patients can go back to work, return to normal life.”

Both professor K. Ray Chaudhuri, chief of king’s parkinson’s research team and Dr Vinod Metta in conjunction with King’s College London and the Parkinson Foundation Centre of Excellence at King’s College Hospital had recently launched the advanced therapy for Parkinson’s Disease in the form of Apomorhine injection and infusion, for India. 

The Apomorphine treatment is a key unmet need for thousands of PD sufferers in India.