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Galantamine Improves Broad Spectrum of Symptoms in Elderly Patients with Alzheimer's Disease: Presented at AGS
By Anne Jacobson
Special to DG News
WASHINGTON, DC -- May 15, 2002 -- Galantamine appears to produce clinically relevant improvements in cognition, activities of daily living, and behavior compared to placebo in the majority of patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Jacobo E. Mintzer, MD, of the Medical University of South Carolina in North Charleston, South Carolina, United States, presented these findings here Friday at the annual scientific meeting of the American Geriatrics Society.
"Galantamine has recently been demonstrated to benefit cognition, activities of daily living, and behavior in patients with Alzheimer's disease," explained Dr. Mintzer. "Therefore a more relevant responder analysis for this drug would therefore need to include effects on any of these parameters."
To evaluate the overall benefit of galantamine therapy across multiple aspects of illness in patients with Alzheimer's disease, Dr. Mintzer designed a double-blind, randomized study in which patients were assigned to placebo (n=286), galantamine 16 mg/day (n=279), or galantamine 24 mg/day (n=273).
The response to the cholinesterase inhibitor regimen is often judged primarily on change in cognitive function, as measured by the cognitive sub-scale of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-cog) or the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), with improving patients regarded as responders.
Dr. Mintzer's team developed a composite responder analysis of the percentage of patients who showed improvement relative to baseline. Improvement was judged to be clinically significant at four points or higher above baseline on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), four points or greater on the ADAS-cog, or one point or higher above baseline on the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study/Activities of Daily Living (ADCS/ADL) inventory.
After five months of treatment, a significantly greater number of patients who received galantamine 16 or 24 mg/day (75 percent and 72 percent, respectively) improved in one or more of these domains as compared with patients given placebo (54 percent; pŁ0.001).
"Our findings indicate a broader clinical response to this drug than has generally been appreciated for cholinesterase inhibitor therapy," Dr. Mintzer concluded.
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