Latest news with #Pramipexole
ITV News
18-07-2025
- Health
- ITV News
Parkinson's drug could treat depression following promising Oxford trial
An Oxfordshire man, who suffered with depression for 20 years, says he's got his life back after taking part in a ground-breaking drug Harvey was given Pramipexole, a drug traditionally used to treat Parkinson's disease, as part of research by the University of Oxford. He saw an improvement in just a few weeks and three years later the 72-year-old is still reaping the benefits."Oh it's fantastic, I'm enjoying life again. When I think I've missed 20 years of enjoyment, I'm making up for it now. "I got myself a motorbike, I go out on once a week. I try and play a guitar, I've built a couple from kits, I love cooking. It's all come back." For two decades Phil suffered with depression. He says he tried every kind of treatment going but nothing worked."I was in a very dark place. If I got up in the mornings it was a bonus. If I got up and went downstairs I sat in a chair and was just nowhere. "I had no motivation, no interests, I lost interest in doing all the hobbies and things like that. Nothing, nothing at all would pull me out of it."But that all changed when he was invited to take part in a drug trial for treatment-resistant depression. He was given Pramipexole, which is traditionally used to treat Parkinson's Disease. It boosts dopamine which affects our experience of enjoyment."There was less tiredness, more motivation, less feeling emotional. "I mean, you get very emotional when you're depressed, believe me, because you sit there sometimes with tears streaming down your face for no reason. "And all that started to pick up. Probably within about six to eight weeks I was living a reasonably normal lifestyle again."The idea of trialling the drug came from Professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, Michael research involved 150 patients. Over the course of a year, half were given Pramipexole and half a drug was discovered to be about twice as effective as other treatments. Professor Browning said: "I run a clinic for people with difficult to treat depression, also that's the only sort of patient that I see. "I have to say, I used this drug for a bit and it isn't subtle how effective this drug is. "Compared with the other treatments I use it's obviously a lot better, so I wasn't surprised at how effective it was in this study. "I was worried that maybe I hadn't done the study well enough to measure it so I was quite relieved to see the study was so positive. "But this chimes with my clinical experience. This is what I see when I use this drug to treat patients. It is really an effective treatment." "It's given me my life back," said Mr Harvey, "That's the sheer simple factor, it's given me a life back again which I hadn't got."However, Pramipexole can cause side-effects. Once more research is done to reduce these, it's hoped prescriptions could be made available from from GPs.
West Australian
21-04-2025
- Health
- West Australian
Kenneth Lee: Perth doctor behind attack on ex fined for prescribing himself testosterone injections
A Perth doctor previously banned from treating women after assaulting his ex-girlfriend has now been fined $10,000 for prescribing himself testosterone injections. Dr Kenneth Lee was allowed to keep practising despite initially being suspended by the Medical Board of Australia in September 2020 over the allegations. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to one count of common assault and was fined $5000. His suspension had been lifted before he faced Perth Magistrate's Court however, conditions were attached to his reinstatement. One of the conditions was that he could only treat men. Another required him to advise patients of his criminal history ahead of their appointment and a third condition prohibited him from self-prescribing medicines. It was the second time he'd been banned from self-prescribing — the first being in 2018 after Dr he wrote himself prescriptions between August 2015 and March 2017. On top of that self-prescription ban, Lee was fined $4000. He successfully had that ban lifted in June 2019, however, within a month Dr Lee visited a Perth pharmacy with prescriptions he wrote for himself on several occasions, according to State Administrative Tribunal documents. The first two were for Reandron, a medication used to replace the body's natural hormone testosterone and filled in August and September 2019. A third was for Armodafanil, a wakefulness-promoting medication, which was being prepared for Dr Lee when a pharmacist noticed the previous ban on his medical registration and instead alerted the medical board. Dr Lee also self-prescribed Selegiline and Pramipexole, Schedule 4 drugs used to treat symptoms of Parkinson's disease. To try and cover up his tracks, Dr Lee obtained a handwritten prescription for Armodafinil from a consultant psychiatrist and changed its date and attached it to a letter denying his actions to the medical board. Despite the latest blight on his record, Dr Lee received another chance this month, walking away with his medical licence intact and instead ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. The State Administrative Tribunal also forced him to pay the medical board's $5000 in legal fees. The SAT decision comes almost three years after Dr Lee was granted a spent conviction by Perth's Magistrates Court after admitting he gave his estranged partner a 'backhander' as he drove her home — and then pushed her over when they got there. In 2022, the then-45-year-old was due to go to trial over the incident, committed against his then-girlfriend during their 'toxic' 18-month relationship, but pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated common assault after a string of other domestic violence charges were dropped. After news of the assault, which Dr Lee failed to report to the medical board within the required seven days, his medical licence was suspended. In its decision to reinstate Dr Lee almost two years later, the tribunal sided with the medical board in accepting Dr Lee posed a 'serious risk of psychological harm to victims of abuse' that he saw in a clinical setting. But the tribunal did not accept Dr Lee 'posed a risk to women generally', and that the condition requiring him to disclose his criminal history sufficed. That condition, as well as the requirement he inform patients of his criminal history, was revoked by the medical board three months ago. It is understood that at the time of publication, Dr Lee's registration was subject to no conditions. The medical board has been contacted for comment.
