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Memantine Improves Communication Abilities in Patients With Moderate-to-Severe Alzheimer's Disease: Presented at AAT

By Rachel Parratt

HONG KONG -- February 28, 2008 -- Memantine significantly improved naming ability and functional communication in donepezil-treated patients with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared with placebo.

Michael Tocco, PhD, Researcher, Forest Research Institute, Jersey City, New Jersey, presented these findings at the 10th International Hong Kong/Springfield Pan-Asian Symposium on Advances in Alzheimer Therapy (AAT).

Memantine, a moderate affinity, uncompetitive agonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, is approved for treatment of moderate-to-severe AD, and has previously demonstrated benefits in cognition, function, and behaviour.

A post-hoc analysis of this 24-week, double-blind, parallel group study showed clinical benefits of memantine on language and functional communication, compared with placebo, in patients receiving donepezil therapy, thus helping to facilitate social interaction between patients and caregivers.

Mean change from baseline showed significant improvements for memantine on the Severe Impairment Battery (SIB) Naming subscale (week 8, P = .02; week 12, P = .003, week 24, P = .009), and on the Functional Communication Score at week 24 (P = .004).

Benefits were also shown on the SIB Comprehension/Repetition/Discourse subscale at week 12 (P = .04).

Overall, significantly fewer memantine/donepezil-treated patients than placebo/donepezil-treated patients experienced a clinical decline on the SIB subscales of Naming (38% vs 46.4%, P = .01) and Reading/Writing (19.3% vs 24.8%, P = .02), and on the 19-item AD Cooperative Study - Activities of Daily Living Scale (AADCS-ADL) for Functional Communication Score (42.4% vs 56.6%, P = .009).

This study was conducted in patients with a mean age of 75.5 years (standard deviation [SD] 8.6 years) and a Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 10.1 (SD 3.1), who were receiving a stable dose of donepezil. Patients were randomised to receive either memantine 10 mg twice daily (n = 202) or placebo (n = 201).

"In patients with moderate-to-severe AD who were receiving stable doses of donepezil, the group treated with memantine demonstrated significantly improved naming abilities, and caregivers reported significantly better functional communication, compared with patients treated with placebo, at study endpoint," the authors concluded.


[Presentation title: Memantine Prevents Worsening of Communication Abilities in Patients With Moderate to Severe Alzheimer's Disease: Mean Change and Responder Analysis. Poster 59B]

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