Drug curbs repetition in Alzheimer's patients

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treatment with the Alzheimer's drug galantamine (Shire Pharmaceutical's Reminyl) reduces repetitive verbalization by people with Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.

"Verbal repetition is common in people with Alzheimer's disease, clinically important, and easily identified," Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, of Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and colleagues write in the medical journal Neurology.

The team previously found that another Alzheimer's drug often improved verbal repetition, along with other aspects of the condition. This prompted them to look at data from a 4-month clinical trial of galantamine versus an inactive placebo in 130 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

After 4 months, 58% of galantamine-treated patients and 24% of placebo-treated patients showed a decrease in verbal repetition. Furthermore, a reduction in verbal repetition correlated with improvement in clinical measures.

"Although inadequate on its own as an assessment of treatment response, tracking changes in verbal repetition in patients in whom it is identified as a problem offers a convenient way to begin discussions about treatment and a valid example for patients and families about the sorts of benefits that treatment with galantamine can offer some patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease," Rockwood's team concludes.

SOURCE: Neurology, April 3, 2007.