# Preventing levodopa induced dyskinesia in Parkinson’s Disease with Statins

> **NIH VA I01** · PORTLAND VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · —

## Abstract

The purpose of this project is to determine whether HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors
(statins) will inhibit the progression of levodopa (LD) induced dyskinesia in Parkinson
disease (PD) given that rodent and primate models have carefully demonstrated this.
LD is the most important medication that Veterans with PD will take to control their
symptoms and has remained so since its discovery in the 1960s. Unfortunately, early
recognition of the benefits of LD against the stiffness, slowness and tremor of PD was
accompanied in many cases by the side effect of dyskinesia, or unwanted purposeless
excessive movements. Dyskinesias, which appear choreic, jerky or dystonic become
more severe over time and have few treatment options, including reducing
dopaminergic medications, which can lead to intolerable worsening of parkinsonian
symptoms. Other options include amantadine, or deep brain stimulation. These
treatments are not suitable for all patients, illustrating the need for other strategies
including preventive, or “disease modifying” approaches. In animal models, statins
applied comcomitantly with first ever LD ingestion interrupted the dyskinesia priming
process as proven by reduction in not only dyskinesia biomarker levels, but significantly
lessened future expression of dyskinesia. In this project, we will perform a retrospective
cohort study using VA databases to select 40 Veterans with PD who have been
prescribed statins prior to or concomitant to being prescribed LD for PD for several
years (giving him/her ample time to potentially develop dyskinesia) and compare with a
group of who never used statins. We will measure dyskinesia that has developed in
these cohorts precisely using not only current standard methods but our unique
methods of data gathering which includes a LD infusion and electronic dyskinesia
measurements. We will determine if statin exposure was protective, resulting in less
severe dyskinesia expression years later. We will also study a third 40 subject cohort
prescribed a statin after LD initiation, to see if the eventual severity of dyskinesia is
lessened, implying slowing of rate of dyskinesia progression. (secondary prevention).
The power of the VA databases is in identifying subjects with the correct order of
administration of statin and levodopa as well as continued administration through the
years, along with baseline characteristics so that appropriate cohorts can be generated
in sufficient numbers. By the end of this project, we will determine if statin exposure at
the beginning of LD use is important to retarding the priming process for dyskinesia
development, and whether there is still room for modifying the rate of progression of
dyskinesia even if started late. If our study shows that statins do modify the rate of
dyskinesia progression, then a multicenter prospective trial of statins would certainly be
warranted. A means of preventing a dreaded complication of PD treatment would be
welcome.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10427233
- **Project number:** 5I01CX001547-04
- **Recipient organization:** PORTLAND VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Kathryn Anne Chung
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10427233

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10427233, Preventing levodopa induced dyskinesia in Parkinson’s Disease with Statins (5I01CX001547-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10427233. Licensed CC0.

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