The European Union has approved Memantine (to be marketed under the brand name, Ebixa) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

The number one prescribed drug in Germany for dementia, Memantine is a receptor antagonist which appears to slow deterioration in Alzheimer's patients (see earlier Alzheimer's Week story.)

"Ebixa is the first in a new class of medicine for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease…(and) elicits a clinically significant effect in patients with moderately severe and severe Alzheimer's disease," according to a statement released by the European Union.

The European Union reports that more than 20 percent of of Europeans over the age of 85 are stricken with the disease, but less than 50 percent of Alzheimer's sufferers are diagnosed correctly. Of those, only 10 to 30 percent receive proper treatment.

"Ebixa is expected to fulfill unmet needs within this group of patients -- for whom no approved therapy has been available until now," a spokesperson for the EU said.

Other Sources: Neurobiological Technologies, Inc.