Tavapadon, a novel therapeutic agent for Parkinsons disease: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Tavapadon is a novel, highly selective D1/D5 partial dopamine agonist with little activity at D2/D3 receptors. This systematic review was undertaken to assess the efficacy and safety of tavapadon in Parkinson’s disease and to better define its overall therapeutic potential. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines were implemented during the conduct of this systematic review and were prospectively registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) under registration number  CRD420261489191. All RCTs on Tavapadon in Pakinsons disease from 2010 to 2026 were searched and evaluated against specific eligibility criteria and were included in this systematic review.  The part III MDS-UPDRS ranged from -9.0 to 11 for Tavapadon and  from -4.3 to 4.6 for placebo. For part I MDS-UPDRS, Tavapadon ranged from -0.2 to 1.4 and Placebo ranged from 0 to 1. Part II and part III combined MDS-UPDRS, Tavapadon ranged from -10.3 to 10.3 and placebo ranged from -1.2 to 4.7. Tavapadon showed more adverse effects compared to placebo viz. nausea, headache, dry mouth, tremors, constipation, dyspepsia, salivary hypersecretion, fatigue, dizziness and hallucinations whereas placebo showed more tremors. It is evident that the novel drug Tavapadon has shown improved motor as well as Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale scores as when compared to the placebo. Similarly Tavapadon has also shown to have a host of side effects which are expected in drugs acting on the dopaminergic receptors. Further investigation will be needed to take place in order to establish the clinical efficacy as well as the adverse effects profile of Tavapadon and traditional Dopaminergic drugs in head to head comparison studies.