Novel therapeutic method

Abstract

A therapeutic method for preserving the dopaminergic function of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, which method comprises administering an effective amount of ropinirole or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof to a human or animal patient in need thereof. Typically, said patient has had Parkinson's disease for a period of less than three years since diagnosis. Preferably the invention comprises administering to said patient an effective amount of ropinirole or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof, optionally in combination with one or more other dopamine agonists, in the absence of levodopa or any other dopamine precursor, and thereafter treating the patient with levodopa.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.