Thread: New Alzheimer's Drug for Advanced Disease

New Alzheimer's Drug for Advanced Disease

By Christine Haran
Much to the frustration of their caregivers, people with moderate to severe Alzheimer?s disease have had no treatment options. But that will change next January when a drug called memantine, marketed as Namenda, hits the US market. On October 17, the US Food and Drug Administration approved memantine for the treatment of these patients. Previously, medications approved for Alzheimer?s disease?the leading cause of dementia?were only available to patients in earlier stages of the disease.

Alzheimer?s disease is a progressive condition that causes memory loss as well as confusion and a decline in one?s ability to perform tasks of daily living. On average, people live with the disease for eight years.

"The latter portion of the disease is associated with the greatest burden on the part of the caregiver." explains Barry Reisberg, MD, the principle investigator of a randomized study of memantine and the clinical director of the Silberstein Institute of Aging and Dementia at New York University School of Medicine. "Now, for the first time, when a family member says ?If only you could slow the progression of the disease down,? we?ll be able to say that there is something we can do, pharmacologically."


While previously approved Alzheimer?s drugs increase levels of a chemical called acetylcholine, memantine blocks a neurotransmitter involved in learning and memory called glutamate, which, when elevated, may contribute to cell disruption and death. Neither type of drug treats the underlying causes of the disease, however.

Still, researchers say the approval of memantine is encouraging. According to memantine researcher Myron Weiner, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, "It?s a little step forward in terms of slowing disease progression, and it gives people an extra measure of hope."

My mom had been on Aricept for years and I took her off of it because it just did not seem to be doing anything for her. After a thorough geriatric psychiatric work-up, we got her on Namenda, the smallest dose first and then upped it a couple of weeks after she demonstrated good tolerance. she is in a residential care wing of a nursing home and unfortunately they can't cope with her situation very well and they wrote her up for a nighttime incident, which prompted her doctor to prescribe Remeron, to help her sleep through the night. Well it helped her sleep through 24-7, and she ended up in the hospital, twice. Now that the Remeron is almost out of her system, she is more alert and engaged than she has been in over a year, and we are going to continue the Namenda and evaluate her over the next several weeks. If anyone there is on the fence about Namenda, I recommend giving it a try, but make sure no other medications are started or stopped for a while. My mom's brother is on it as well, and his wife says it has noticeable slowed the progression of the disease so far. Silverscript recently put it on the list of meds that do not need advanced authorization, so it is covered under that Medicare Rx plan without a lot of paperwork hassle.