Namenda® Only Helps in Middle Stages
Print
Email
CHICAGO - Memantine goes by the brand names Namenda® or Ebixa®. An analysis of studies involving the drug memantine finds a lack of evidence for benefit when the drug is used to treat patients with mild Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment. This is according to a report posted online today that will appear in the August print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"Memantine, indicated for moderate to severe Alzheimer disease (AD), is frequently prescribed off-label [for uses other than those approved by the FDA] either alone or with a cholinesterase inhibitor for mild AD and mild cognitive impairment," the authors write as background information in the article. Cholinesterase inhibitors are drugs like Aricept®, Exelon® and Razadyne®. They increase levels of a brain chemical called acetylcholine. Increasing acetylcholine levels appears to slow mental decline in people with AD.
"There were no significant differences between memantine and placebo on any outcome for patients with mild AD, either within any trial or when data were combined," the authors report.
Among patients with moderate AD, there was no significant difference between memantine and placebo in any individual trial, although there was a significant effect when the three trials were statistically combined.
"Despite its frequent off-label use, evidence is lacking for a benefit of memantine in mild AD, and there is meager evidence for its efficacy in moderate AD," the authors conclude. "Prospective trials are needed to further assess the potential for efficacy of memantine either alone or added to cholinesterase inhibitors in mild and moderate AD."
Related Videos & Articles
More Information
Arch Neurol. 2011;doi:10.1001/.
Authors: Lon S. Schneider, MD, MS; Karen S. Dagerman, MS; Julian P. T. Higgins, PhD; Rupert McShane, MD
Author Affiliations: University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California (Drs Schneider and Dagerman); and Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge (Dr Higgins), and Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford (Dr McShane), England.
.
