On this date in 1989, a new treatment for Parkinson's disease was announced. Deprenyl was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in combination with L-dopa, a drug that had been used previously to alleviate the symptoms of the normally fatal brain disorder. Parkinson's, which affects approximately 500,000 Americans, was named for James Parkinson, a British physician who identified the disease in 1817. Scientists recently pinpointed a gene that may be responsible for some cases of Parkinson's.

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