Two drugs once commonly used to treat Parkinson’s disease, pergolide and cabergoline, produce heart valve defects in as many as a quarter of the patients who use them, Italian and German researchers reported today.
A study by Italian researchers found that roughly one-fourth of Parkinson’s patients taking pergolide or cabergoline, sold as Permax, Dostinex and other brands, had moderate to severe heart-valve problems. Another study, by German doctors, found that users of either drug were five to seven times more likely to have leaky heart valves than those on other types of Parkinson’s medications. Both studies were reported in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.