Ann Conkle
Mar 8, 2012

Drug for mild Alzheimer’s also helps more severe cases

Research has found that the dementia drug donepezil, already widely used to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer's Disease (AD), also helps in moderate to severe patients. Extending treatment to this group could help treat twice as many sufferers worldwide. Encouragingly, the drug has greater positive benefits for patients more severely affected than for those in the earlier stages of dementia. The multi-center study, led by Professor Robert Howard at the King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, is the first trial to demonstrate the value of continued drug intervention for those patients with moderate to severe AD who have deteriorated beyond the point where donepezil is currently recommended. “As patients progress to more severe forms of Alzheimer’s disease, clinicians are faced with a difficult decision as to whether to continue or not with dementia drugs and, until now, there has been little evidence to guide that decision,” said Howard. 

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