Expert Consensus Group report on the use of apomorphine in the treatment of Parkinson's disease - Clinical practice recommendations

Apomorphine is a suitable therapeutic option for PD patients who experience troublesome 'off' periods despite optimized treatment with oral PD medications. Due to its speed of onset, apomorphine injection is particularly suited to those patients requiring rapid, reliable relief of both unpredictable and predictable 'off' periods, those who require reliable and fast relief when anticipating an 'off', those with levodopa absorption or gastric emptying problems resulting in delayed or failed 'on', or for rapid relief of early morning dystonia or akinesia. Apomorphine infusion1 is suited for patients whose 'off' periods can no longer be adequately controlled by standard oral PD treatment or for those in whom rescue doses of apomorphine injection are effective but either needed too frequently (more than 4-6 times per day), or are associated with increasing dyskinesia. In addition to treating motor fluctuations, there is evidence that apomorphine infusion may be effective for the management of specific non-motor symptoms of PD associated with 'off' periods. Apomorphine infusion is less invasive than other non-oral treatment options for advancing disease, intrajejunal levodopa infusion and deep-brain stimulation.