Does the slope of UPDRS vs. time show neuroprotection?

Andrew Grove, PhD, Former Chairman, Intel Corporation; PwP
Dopamine-Based Approaches, Pharmacological Approaches, Disease Modification, Therapeutic Development
Response to News post:
Results of ADAGIO trial for rasagiline suggest possible disease-modifying effect
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We must do better (with rasagiline so far no better than levodopa as a disease-modifying therapy?)
Results of ADAGIO trial for rasagiline suggest possible disease-modifying effect
Michael A Schwarzschild, MGH
29 Sep 2009 05:40 PM EST
These recent rasagiline data (Olanow et al., 2009) represent a laudable if not heroic effort on behalf of PD patients, but unfortunately they are inconclusive and  I believe they do not warrant ... 
Responses: 4

Dr. Schwarzschild, I read your posting on PDOnlineResearch on Adagio, etc. with interest.  I wonder if we are overlooking a fairly basic indicator of disease modification (nay, neuroprotection); the slope of the UPDRS vs. time lines.  Eyeballing the Rasagiline lines, in comparison to the slope prior to administration of Rasagiline, shows in all cases a lower slope.

By contrast, the ELLDOPA lines within the acuity of my eyes, all have the same slope, suggesting no modification of progression.  

 Why would that not be a sufficient indication that Rasagiline lowers the rate of progression and ipso facto, modifies the disease progression?

Reference: 
Olanow WC, Rascol O, Hauser R, Feigin PD, Jankovic J, Lang A, et al. A double-blind, delayed-start trial of rasagiline in Parkinson's disease. N Engl J Med. 2009;361(13):1268-78.
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Responses:
Response to Andy Grove re: ADAGIO
Michael A Schwarzschild, MGH
13 Oct 2009 04:22 PM EST
I think I understand where you’re coming from about the slopes but it’s hard to be sure by email. [Note: Dr. Schwarzschild has approved this posting of his email response to Dr. Grove, ... 
Showing disease modifying effects requires an objective method for analyzing UPDRS versus time curves
Bart Ploeger, et al.
20 Oct 2009 04:46 AM EST
The different views of Drs. Grove and Schwarzschild on whether or not slopes of the UPDRS versus time curves in the ADAGIO and ELLDOPA trial show disease modifying effects demonstrates that the ...