Study: Drug May Delay Progression of Alzheimer's Disease

A drug used to treat the symptoms of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease may also delay its progression, according to a study conducted at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

In their report in the June issue of the Archives of Neurology, researchers found that patients treated with the drug Exelon (rivastigmine tartrate) showed significantly less cognitive decline 26 weeks after discontinuing its use than patients who took a placebo.

"If Exelon only had an effect on the symptoms of the disease, we would have expected rapid deterioration in patients' cognition to the level observed in the placebo group after treatment withdrawal, but that was not the case with this study," said researcher Dr. Martin Farlow, director of the Alzheimer Clinic at Indiana University Hospital.

According to researchers, Exelon is a cholinesterase inhibitor, which enhances memory and other cognitive functions by influencing the chemical acetylcholine, which transmits messages from one brain cell to another. In the brains of Alzheimer patients, the cells using acetylcholine are damaged or destroyed, resulting in lower levels of the chemical messenger.

"Cholinesterase inhibition is the most extensively researched and best therapeutic approach for the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer disease, providing clinical benefits presumably through an increase of acetylcholine levels and enhancing neurotransmission," said Farlow.

Exelon, manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., was approved for consumer use by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000.

Other sources: Indiana University