Switching Patients With Moderate Alzheimer's Disease From Donepezil to Rivastigmine Effective, Well Tolerated: Presented at AGS

DG Guide
By Beatriz Manzor Mitrzyk

CHICAGO -- Patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) not responding to donepezil tolerated the switch to rivastigmine transdermal patch or oral rivastigmine well, according to results from 3 open-label, multicentre trials presented here on April 30 at the 2009 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS).

In addition, the rivastigmine transdermal patch was associated with fewer gastrointestinal (GI) adverse effects (AEs) than oral rivastigmine, making the patch better tolerated in patients.

Jason Olin, PhD, Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, and colleagues conducted a 26-week prospective clinical trial (Study US13) of rivastigmine capsules 1.5 mg twice daily titrated up to a maximum of 6 mg twice daily in patients responding poorly to donepezil; patients were switched within 24 to 36 hours after the last dose of donepezil.

Study US18 used the same study protocol; however, patients may have also been switched after up to a 7-day washout period.

A total of 331 patients were evaluated in these 2 trials and 224 (67.7%) patients completed either study.

The most common reasons for discontinuation were AEs (59.8%), unsatisfactory treatment response (15.9%), and withdrawal of consent (15%). At least 1 AE was reported in 83.4% of patients taking rivastigmine capsules. Serious AEs were reported in 16.6% of these patients, including...read the whole article

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