Parkinson’s disease is classified as a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects more than ten million people worldwide, with approximately 60,000 new cases diagnosed each year. The most effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease is L-dopa; however, many people that take L-dopa experience extreme nausea which prevents them from taking enough L-dopa to achieve a relief of symptoms. In May of 1975, the FDA approved the drug carbidopa to manage L-dopa induced nausea, and the drug Sinemet® (carbidopa/L-dopa) was approved.
Between 1976 and 2011, the Center for Disease Control documented a progressive increase of 328.7% in Parkinson’s disease deaths. Recently, a peer-reviewed medical paper was approved for publication that attempts to answer the question of whether or not carbidopa is linked to the increasing Parkinson’s disease death rate.
