Levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel infusion in advanced Parkinson's disease: real-world experience and practical guidance

Abstract

As Parkinson's disease (PD) progresses, treatment needs to be adapted to maintain symptom control. Once patients develop advanced PD, an optimised regimen of oral and transdermal medications may no longer provide adequate relief of OFF periods and motor complications can emerge. At this point, patients may wish to consider a device-aided therapy (DAT) that provides continuous dopaminergic stimulation to help overcome these issues. Levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel (LECIG) infusion is a recently developed DAT option. The aim of this article is twofold: (1) to give an overview of the pharmacokinetics of LECIG infusion and clinical experience to date of its use in patients with advanced PD, including real-world data and patient-reported outcomes from a cohort of patients treated in Sweden, the first country where it was introduced, and (2) based on that information to provide practical guidance for healthcare teams starting patients on LECIG infusion, whether they are transitioning from oral medications or from other DATs, including recommendations for stepwise dosing calculation and titration. In terms of clinical efficacy, LECIG infusion has been shown to have a similar effect on motor function to standard levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) infusion but, due to the presence of entacapone in LECIG, the bioavailability of levodopa is increased such that lower overall levodopa doses can be given to achieve therapeutically effective plasma concentrations. From a practical standpoint, LECIG infusion is delivered using a smaller cartridge and pump system than LCIG infusion. In addition, for patients previously treated with LCIG infusion who have an existing percutaneous endoscopic transgastric jejunostomy (PEG-J) system, this is compatible with the LECIG infusion system. As it is a relatively new product, the long-term efficacy and safety of LECIG infusion remain to be established; however, real-world data will continue to be collected and analysed to provide this information and help inform future clinical decisions.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; dosing; levodopa–entacapone–carbidopa intestinal gel infusion; motor symptoms; patient-reported outcomes; safety; tolerability.

Figure 1.

A Parkinson’s patient using LECIG infusion.

Figure 2.

Pharmacokinetic mean (±SE) dose-adjusted plasma concentrations of levodopa (LCIG shown as filled squares; LECIG shown as open circles). Reproduced with permission from Movement Disorders.

Figure 3.

Mean (±SE) Treatment Response Scale scores (LCIG shown as filled squares; LECIG shown as open circles). Reproduced with permission from Movement Disorders.