FDA approves first-of-its-kind oral therapy for adults with Parkinson’s

New once-daily med Juvmo aims to maintain control of motor symptoms

Written by Marisa Horak, MS | Sept. 29, 2026

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved tavapadon, now known as Juvmo, to help better manage Parkinson's motor symptoms.
• The once-daily oral therapy, which uses a novel mechanism, is the first of its kind to win FDA approval, according to its developer. 
• In clinical trials, Juvmo was shown to control motor symptoms and help delay the start of levodopa treatment.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved tavapadon — an oral drug aimed at maintaining consistent control of motor symptoms — as a new treatment for adults with Parkinson’s disease.

The therapy’s developer, AbbVie, will market the once-daily med, taken as tablets, under the brand name Juvmo, according to a company press release. It’s expected to be commercially available in the U.S. in October. The newly approved therapy can be taken with or without levodopa treatment.

The company noted that Juvmo acts through a novel mechanism, making it the first therapy of its kind to receive FDA authorization for Parkinson’s.

“The approval of Juvmo marks the first dopaminergic breakthrough for Parkinson’s disease in decades,” said Roopal Thakkar, MD, executive vice president, research and development, chief scientific officer at Abbvie.

According to the developer, Juvmo “offers patients a differentiated approach to motor symptom control across the Parkinson’s disease continuum.”

Parkinson’s is marked by the progressive loss of brain cells that produce dopamine, a key neurotransmitter, or brain signaling molecule, that helps control movement and emotion. Standard Parkinson’s treatment involves levodopa, which works to give the brain more raw material to make dopamine. However, as the disease progresses and more dopamine-making cells are lost, patients typically need increasingly higher levodopa doses, which can increase the risk of side effects.

Dopamine agonists — drugs that mimic the activity of dopamine — have also been used for years as part of Parkinson’s treatment. But most dopamine agonists now on the market target specific dopamine receptors, namely D2 and D3. Activating these receptors may help ease Parkinson’s symptoms, but this strategy can also cause side effects.