Alzheimer Drug may Help MS Patients
April 28, 2004(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- One drug, dual purpose is what researchers from the Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York are saying about donepezil.
According to their research, the drug that is used to treat dementia in Alzheimer's patients is also showing signs of alleviating cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis.
Researchers studied nearly 70 MS patients with mild verbal and memory impairment and a lack of severe depressive symptoms. For 24 weeks, patients were either given 10 milligrams of donepezil or a placebo.
Lauren Krupp, M.D., lead author of the study, says, "The donepezil group displayed greater improvement on the verbal memory function test and experienced a greater reduction in cognitive deficits than did the placebo group."
Sixty-five percent of patients taking donepezil reported improvement as opposed to 32 percent of the placebo group.
Researchers hope to conduct a larger study in the near future to validate their findings.
SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology 56th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, April 24-May 1, 2004
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.