Alliance launched to battle Parkinson disease

World leading healthcare companies Sanofi and Servier launched a joint project to collaborate in medical care and treatment promotion of Parkinson disease in China on Wednesday in Beijing.

From October 1st, Sanofi will take over the distribution business of Trastal, an anti-Parkinson tablet produced by Servier, in China and the two companies will establish an anti-Parkinson expert alliance to help Chinese Parkinson sufferers with easier access to more standardized medical care.

Parkinson is one of the top killers of elderly people and China is home to 2 million patients of the disease who suffers from dyskinesia symptom like muscular tremors and rigidity and bradykinesia. A survey says the average annual medical expenditure of a Parkinson patient accounts as much as 44.8% of the family's annual income.

"Underdeveloped medical condition and poor public knowledge to Parkinson in China are the main reasons to low treatment rate and low diagnostic rate," said Jiang Yuping, professor of Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University. According to Jiang, only 40% of the Parkinson patients go to see the doctor and 45% of them are diagnosed.

Chen Biao, professor of Xuanwu Hospital Captial Medical University said dopamine agonists treatment could be recommended as top choice for early patients.

Hugues Renaut, Managing Director of International Operations China, Northern Europe, Western Europe at Servier said the joint project is aimed to provided easier access to high end medicine like Trastal and promote the country's medical level.

Didier Dargent, Manager of Servier China said the company will be committed to providing more medical solutions to doctors and patients with more high end medicine and disease management resources.