Source: DGNews  |  Posted 9 years ago

By Jill Stein,
Special to DG News

NEW YORK CITY, NY -- October 15, 2002 -- Galantamine (Reminyl) is effective for 48 months and well tolerated for at least 54 months when used in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD), say researchers.

Dr. Murray Raskind, with the VA Puget Sound and University of Washington in Seattle, United States reported these results at the 127th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association (ANA).

Patients from two six-month, double blind, placebo-controlled studies received galantamine, 24 mg per day, for an additional 30 months in an open- label extension study. Although the primary objective was long-term safety, cognition at month 36 was also assessed using the 11-item Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog/11). Overall, 240 patients were enrolled in this investigation, known as GAL-INT-13.

In another open-label extension trial, patients from three prior open- label extension studies received galantamine, 24 mg per day, for an additional 18 months, for a total of 30 to 54 months of continuous galantamine treatment. The primary endpoint was safety. Overall, 676 patients were enrolled in this investigation, known as GAL-USA-18.

Results showed that the ADAS-cog scores of patients treated with galantamine deteriorated at a slower rate over the course of both studies than the predicted decline for untreated patients.

In GAL-INT-13, patients treated continuously with galantamine for up to 48 months demonstrated an approximate increase in ADAS-cog/11 score of 12.8