Long-Term Effects of Safinamide on Mood Fluctuations in Parkinson’s Disease

BACKGROUND: Mood disorders are very frequent in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), and their effective treatment is still a major unresolved issue: growing evidence suggests that glutamatergic system dysfunction is directly involved. Safinamide is a drug with an innovative mechanism of action, dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic, that includes the reversible inhibition of the monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) enzyme and the modulation of excessive glutamate release through the use- and state-dependent blockade of the sodium channels. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of safinamide on mood over two-year treatment in PD patients with motor fluctuations. METHODS: This was a post-hoc analysis of the data from studies 016 and 018. The analysis focused on outcomes related to mood, namely: scores of the “Emotional well-being” domain of the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39), scores of the GRID Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (GRID-HAMD) and the proportion of patients reporting depression as an adverse event over the entire treatment period. RESULTS: Safinamide, compared to placebo, significantly improved the PDQ-39 “Emotional well-being” domain after6-months (p = 0.0067) and 2 years (p = 0.0006), as well as the GRID-HAMD (p = 0.0408 after 6 months and p = 0.0027 after 2 years). Significantly fewer patients in the safinamide group, compared to placebo, experienced depression as adverse event (p = 0.0444 after 6 months and p = 0.0057 after 2 years). CONCLUSION: The favorable effect of safinamide on mood may be explained by the improvement in wearing off and by its modulation of glutamatergic hyperactivity and reversible MAO-B inhibition. Prospective studies are warranted to investigate this potential benefit.