Donepezil provides a significant benefit in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the results of a new study indicate.

Dr. Ben Seltzer, of Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, and colleagues conducted a trial of donepezil in 153 patients who had been diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s disease within the prior 12 months.

About two-thirds of the patients were started on 5 milligrams daily of donepezil, which was raised to 10 milligrams after six weeks. The others were given an inactive placebo pill.

The investigators used several standard measures to chart any change in mental performance - primarily the cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS), as well the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Computerized Memory Battery Test.

As reported in the Archives of Neurology, the researchers saw improvements favoring donepezil on the ADAS score after 24 weeks, with a difference between the treatment and placebo group of 2.3 points.

Improvements with donepezil were also found on the Mini-Mental State and the Computerized Memory Battery Test subscales testing verbal and visual memory.

Donepezil was well tolerated. Fifteen (16 percent) donepezil-treated patients withdrew because of adverse events compared with five (9 percent) placebo-treated patients.

“The robust effect of donepezil on cognitive performance provides further evidence of the benefit of early initiation of donepezil therapy in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease,” Seltzer and colleagues write.

“Longer-term studies are required to further evaluate the potential benefits to the patient, family, caregivers, and society by early initiation of donepezil therapy,” they add.

SOURCE: Archives of Neurology, December 2004.