Treatment with Reminyl (galantamine), a drug used for Alzheimer’s disease, does not improve the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), new research indicates.

CFS is a debilitating condition of unknown cause. Previous research has shown that Reminyl has certain properties that could be of benefit to people with CFS, according to the report in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association. With the exception of a small test study, however, the drug has never been tested in such patients.

To investigate further, Dr. C. V. Russell Blacker, from Wonford House Hospital in Exeter, UK, and colleagues assessed the outcomes of 434 CFS patients who were treated with Reminyl at one of four doses or with an inactive “placebo”.

After 16 weeks of treatment, there was no evidence that Reminyl, at any dose, was better than placebo at improving CFS symptoms.

“To our knowledge, this is the largest completed trial of CFS patients,” the investigators note. The results suggest that Reminyl is not a useful therapy for CFS.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, September 8, 2004.