<p>The most widely prescribed drug to treat mild Alzheimer’s disease, Aricept (donepezil), has been shown for the first time to help patients with more severe cases too, a study said on Wednesday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The research was funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the Alzheimer’s Society, and received donated pills from the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer-Eisa and Lundbeck but drugmakers were not otherwise involved.<br /><br />Treating patients with advanced Alzheimer’s offered “significant functional benefits over the course of 12 months,” said the article in the New England Journal of Medicine.<br /><br />Doctors often stop prescribing donepezil to patients with more advanced dementia because the drug’s benefit is unclear and treatment may appear to have less benefit as the disease progresses.<br /><br />The randomised clinical trial looked at the effects of donepezil on patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s who scored between five and 13 on a scale of one to 30, where 30 indicates higher cognitive function.<br /><br />It found that taking donepezil for 52 weeks resulted in improved scores on mental tests and measures of daily activity compared to those who were assigned to discontinue the drug.<br /><br />“For the first time, we have robust and compelling evidence that treatment with these drugs can continue to help patients at the later, more severe stages of the disease,” said lead author Robert Howard.<br /><br />“Patients who continued taking donepezil were better able to remember, understand, communicate and perform daily tasks for at least a year longer than those who stopped taking the drugs.” Howard added that since donepezil will be available soon in cheaper, generic form, the findings could “increase the numbers of patients in the developed and developing world that we are able to treat.”</p>
<p>The most widely prescribed drug to treat mild Alzheimer’s disease, Aricept (donepezil), has been shown for the first time to help patients with more severe cases too, a study said on Wednesday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The research was funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the Alzheimer’s Society, and received donated pills from the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer-Eisa and Lundbeck but drugmakers were not otherwise involved.<br /><br />Treating patients with advanced Alzheimer’s offered “significant functional benefits over the course of 12 months,” said the article in the New England Journal of Medicine.<br /><br />Doctors often stop prescribing donepezil to patients with more advanced dementia because the drug’s benefit is unclear and treatment may appear to have less benefit as the disease progresses.<br /><br />The randomised clinical trial looked at the effects of donepezil on patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s who scored between five and 13 on a scale of one to 30, where 30 indicates higher cognitive function.<br /><br />It found that taking donepezil for 52 weeks resulted in improved scores on mental tests and measures of daily activity compared to those who were assigned to discontinue the drug.<br /><br />“For the first time, we have robust and compelling evidence that treatment with these drugs can continue to help patients at the later, more severe stages of the disease,” said lead author Robert Howard.<br /><br />“Patients who continued taking donepezil were better able to remember, understand, communicate and perform daily tasks for at least a year longer than those who stopped taking the drugs.” Howard added that since donepezil will be available soon in cheaper, generic form, the findings could “increase the numbers of patients in the developed and developing world that we are able to treat.”</p>