What are the 5 anti-alzheimers drugs?
Alzheimer’s disease, also known as presenile dementia, is a progressive form of dementia occurring in middle age, which is associated with diffuse degeneration of the brain.
There are two main types of drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl all work in a similar way, and are known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Ebixa works in a different way from the other three.
- Aricept (donepezil hydrochloride), produced by Eisai and co-marketed with Pfizer, was the first drug to be licensed in the UK specifically for Alzheimer’s disease.
- Exelon (rivastigmine), produced by Novartis pharmaceuticals, was the second drug licensed in the UK specifically for Alzheimer’s disease.
- Reminyl (galantamine) was co-developed by Shire pharmaceuticals and the Janssen Research Foundation. Originally derived from the bulbs of snowdrops and narcissi, it was the third drug licensed in the UK specifically for Alzheimer’s disease.
- Ebixa (memantine) is produced by Merz and marketed in Europe by Lundbeck. It is the newest of the Alzheimer’s drugs.
- Cognex (tacrine)
No agents to date can slow the progression of alzheimers dementia. Current agents may temporarily improve cognitive function and therefore improve quality of life
