Safinamide (INN; brand name Xadago) is a drug used as an add-on treatment for Parkinsons disease with "off" episodes; it has multiple modes of action, including the inhibition of monoamine oxidase B.It was approved in the European Union in February 2015, in the United States in March 2017, and in Canada in January 2019. Medical uses
Safinamide is used to treat idiopathic Parkinsons disease as add-on for people taking a stable dose of levodopa (L-dopa) alone or in combination with other Parkinson drugs, to help with "off" episodes when levodopa stops working. Contraindications
Safinamide is contraindicated in people with severe liver impairment, with albinism, retinitis pigmentosa, severe diabetic neuropathy, uveitis and other disorders of the retina. Combination with other monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors and pethidine is also contraindicated.It is not safe for women to take during pregnancy. It is excreted in breast milk and the effects on infants are unknown. Adverse effects
Common adverse events in clinical trials (in more than 1% of people) included nausea, dizziness, tiredness, sleeplessness, orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure), and headache. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of these effects between safinamide and placebo.In experiments with rats (but not in those with monkeys), retinopathies have been observed. Overdose
Expected overdose effects are hypertension (high blood pressure), orthostatic hypotension, hallucinations, psychomotor agitation, nausea, vomiting, and dyskinesia. In studies, a single person was suspected to have overdosed for a month; symptoms were confusion, drowsiness and mydriasis (dilation of the pupils) and subsided completely after the drug was discontinued. No specific antidote is available.
Resistant ovary syndrome, previously known as Savage syndrome, is a cause of ovarian failure that can lead to secondary amenorrhea. Resistant ovaries result from a functional disturbance of the gonadotropin receptors in the ovarian follicles. It may be a cause of primary or secondary amenorrhea and is resistant to exogenous gonadotropin stimulation. Diagnosis of this condition requires that the patient has a normal 46,XX karyotype, normal secondary sexual characteristics, elevated plasma follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone – in the menopausal range – and that normal, multiple follicles are seen on ovarian biopsy. Spontaneous reversal of the receptor resistance may occur. == References ==