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Because iron accumulates in the brain in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative diseases, the question has been raised of whether an iron chelator such as deferiprone would have any benefits. In this phase 2, multicenter, double-blind, randomized trial, patients with levodopa-naive, early PD were randomized 1:1 to 15 mg/kg twice a day of oral deferiprone or placebo for 36 weeks. Treatment with dopaminergics was not permitted unless deemed clinically necessary during the study. The primary outcome was change in the Movement Disorder Society revised Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale score.
There were 186 patients in each arm. The number of patients requiring levodopa were higher in the deferiprone group than th…