EAN 2022 | Opicapone for pain in PD: the OCEAN study

K. Ray-Chaudhuri, MD, DSc, FRCP, FEAN, King’s College London, London, UK, explains the upcoming OCEAN study (OpiCapone Effect on motor fluctuations and pAiN; NCT04986982), one of the first randomized, placebo-controlled studies aimed at investigating opicapone for modulating pain in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Opicapone is a third-generation, catechol-o-methyl-transferase (COMT) inhibitor that can be taken daily to tackle levodopa wearing off symptoms. OCEAN specifically focuses on pain during the OFF periods, with trials previously having shown that opicapone abolishes or reduces OFF time. The primary outcome of OCEAN is to compare improvements on the King’s Parkinson’s disease Pain Scale (KPPS) between opicapone-treated patients and placebo controls on an international scale. Other aspects that will be measured include motor function, sleep, and quality of life. If the result of the trial is positive, opicapone may become an important method to manage fluctuation-related pain in PD. Additionally, opicapone is more attractive than entacapone since it can be taken once-a-day instead of with each dose of levodopa. This interview took place at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) 2022 Congress in Vienna, Austria.