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Cognitive and Behavioural Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease Are Significantly Improved by Memantine Therapy: Presented at EPA

By Jenny Powers

MUNICH, Germany -- March 4, 2010 -- Most Alzheimer's disease patients showed significant improvement in cognitive function and neuropsychiatric symptoms after 6 months of treatment with memantine, according to a study presented here at the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) 18th European Congress of Psychiatry.

Memantine, an uncompetitive N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, normalises glutamatergic neuronal transmission and prevents the toxic effects of elevated neurotransmitter levels without affecting physiological activity of the NMDA receptor.

On March 1, Despoina Giailoglou, MD, Lunbeck Hellas SA, Athens, Greece, presented the 6-month open-label, multicentre, prospective observational study, which aimed to evaluate the efficacy of memantine, either as monotherapy or together with an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AchEI).

The study enrolled 1,469 patients at 110 investigational sites throughout Greece. Memantine 20 mg/day monotherapy was administered to 80.6% of the patients, and 19.4% received memantine plus an AchEI.

Cognitive function evaluated by Mini-Mental State Examination at 6 months improved in 55.8% of patients, remained stable in 25.0%, and deteriorated 19.3%. Analyses with the Neuropsychiatry Inventory Scale (NPI) at 3 and 6 months showed improved behavioural symptoms for 56.8% and 62.0% of patients, respectively.

Improvement was seen in all items on the NPI scale, except item 5, which corresponds to euphoria/elation. Memantine treatment for a term of 6 months was well tolerated.

A total of 3.5% (n = 52) of patients withdrew from the study for any reason, and 7.6% reported adverse events.

Dr. Giailoglou concluded that 4 of 5 patients (80%) improved or remained stable after 6 months of memantine treatment. Most patients with Alzheimer's disease demonstrated significantly improved cognitive function and neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Funding for this study was provided by an unrestricted grant from Lundbeck Hellas SA.

[Presentation title: Effect of Memantine Treatment in Cognitive and Behavioral Symptoms of Alzheimer Disease Patients. Abstract PW01-79]

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