Enzyme-blocking drugs linked to lower Parkinson disease risk
Among 11 drugs examined, sorafenib prescription fills were linked to a relative risk of 0.43 for Parkinson disease compared with no fills for that drug.
975,177 participants
Limit: Cancer indications and smoking could confound the association despite adjustment
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In a population-based case-control study, researchers compared 207,532 US Medicare beneficiaries with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease and 975,177 controls, all aged 67 or older. They used insurance records from 2014–2018 to identify prescription fills before diagnosis or the corresponding date for controls.
They examined 11 tyrosine kinase inhibitors, drugs that block enzymes involved in cell signaling. All 11 had estimates pointing toward lower Parkinson disease risk after adjustment for age, sex, race, smoking and healthcare use. An additional analysis accounting for relevant cancer diagnoses yielded similar associations. The authors suggested that the associations may differ according to the specific enzyme pathways blocked.
Why it matters
Parkinson disease has no therapies that change its underlying course. This study addresses whether blocking cell-signaling enzymes might offer a route toward such therapies.
Caveats
This observational study cannot establish prevention, and prescription fills do not establish that people took the drugs. The results concern Medicare beneficiaries aged 67 or older without Medicare Advantage coverage; some estimates were compatible with no difference.
From the paper
- Participants
We included 207,532 incident PD cases and 975,177 population-based controls in this case-control study.
- Result
Sorafenib was associated with the lowest PD risk (RR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.25–0.74), followed by erlotinib (RR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.38–0.74) and dasatinib (RR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.35–0.82).
Quoted word for word from the full text on PubMed Central.
The paper
Use of receptor and nonreceptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors and Parkinson disease risk
Barrow Neurological Institute
Neurotherapeutics, Aug 27, 2026, Open access
