BACKGROUND: Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive, neuro-degenerative disorder that predominantly affects the ability to perform common, daily activities and characterized by both motor and non-motor symptoms. In 2016, PD accounted for approximately 6 million prevalent cases, 0.2 million deaths and 3.2 million DALYs (Disability adjusted life years) globally. PD management have plethora of therapies with high pill burden causing non-adherence (NA). Due to NA and lack of targeted therapies the burden of disease is increasing significantly.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the need for long-acting therapies (LA) in PD to address the current unmet needs and improve NA leading to reduced clinical burden

METHODS: A secondary literature search was conducted to identify epidemiology trends, clinical and economic burden within PD in the US and globally, including pill burden, NA, and effects of non-adherence. The search followed the PICOs criteria and limited to publicly available articles in English over the last 10 years (2012 to 2022)

RESULTS: Existing literature provides evidence indicating the involvement of genetics, environmental factors, or a combination of both; however, the exact causation of PD is still unknown and making it difficult to develop innovative therapies. The global prevalence, mortality and DALYs of PD increased by 21.7%, 19.5% and 22.1% respectively from 1996-2016. In 2017, the economic impact of PD in the United States was $51.7 billion. The PD-related pill burden was 7-10 pills/day. Around 36% of patients reported NA to their medication, and most reported reasons for NA were regimen complexity, mood disorders and poor quality of life (QoL). NA to PD-related medications worsens morbidity and increases the use of medical resources, leading to higher costs.

CONCLUSIONS: The development of LA therapies can greatly reduce the pill burden which in turn improves the adherence and subsequently burden of disease