AT LAST, some good news for people with Alzheimer鈥檚. Those in the later stages of the disease can benefit from taking donepezil and memantine, which delay the onset of more severe symptoms.
Earlier evidence suggested that only people with mild to moderate symptoms benefited from the drugs, so doctors often halt treatment in the later stages of the disease.
Now, at King鈥檚 College London and colleagues have shown that people with advanced Alzheimer鈥檚 benefit too. They gave either one or both of the drugs to 285 people with Alzheimer鈥檚, who were already taking donepezil but had reached a point where they would normally stop.
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The drugs delayed decline by four months in those who continued with one or both for the following year, compared with those on a placebo (The New England Journal of Medicine, vol 366, p 893). 鈥淚t makes a huge difference 鈥� between being able and not able to feed yourself, for example,鈥� says Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer鈥檚 Society in the UK.
As a bonus, a cheaper generic version of donepezil was .
Since it was first published, this article has been updated to correct Clive Ballard鈥檚 job title
