The cost of treating patients with moderately severe to severe Alzheimer’s disease with the drug memantine are more than offset by overall savings, European researchers report in the journal Clinical Drug Investigation.

Memantine is marketed in the US by Forest Laboratories under the tradename Namenda. The drug is also marketed as Ebixa by Lundbeck SA, Paris, which provided funding for the study, and as Axura by Merz Pharma GmbH of Germany, each in a number of worldwide markets.

Using a mathematical simulation, Dr. Clement Francois, from Lundbeck SA, and colleagues estimated the cost implications of using memantine relative to no drug therapy over a 5-year-period in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease in Finland.

The data for the model were derived from a study of dementia among older adults in Finland and from a clinical trial conducted in the US.

As anticipated, the initial cost of memantine therapy outweighed that of no therapy. But as the study period progressed, memantine was found to be cost-effective, largely because it helped patients remain at home rather than be sent to a hospital or nursing home.

“Memantine therapy was associated with approximately 4 extra months of independence, 1 additional month of residence in the community, and a cost reduction relative to placebo of approximately 1700 euros per patient over 5 years,” the authors write.

The figures were based on 2001 costs.

SOURCE: Clinical Drug Investigation, July 2004.