Researchers at University College London (UCL) monitored 295 people with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease on the effects of continuing or discontinuing the drug donepezil – which is typically withdrawn in the later stages of the disease because of a lack of perceived benefit by clinicians.
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The team found that those volunteers who had continued treatment with donepezil were less likely to move into a care home in the first year of the study than those who had been taken off the drug. Experts said that the annual cost of residential care for people with dementia ranges between £30,732 and £34,424 in the United Kingdom. In comparison, a year’s supply of Aricept can cost as little as £21.59.
A recent study investigates the risk for withdrawing a commonly-prescribed Alzheimer’s disease drug from patients at an advanced stage for the disease to find that doing so will double the risk for being placed in a nursing home within a year.
Alzheimer’s Society’s director of research and development Dr. Dough Brown expressed that since there is now no new treatments for the disease, it is crucial that doctors make the most out of available drugs in the market.
“This is good news, but the results should be interpreted with caution”.
The research conducted at UCL has also shown in the past that even patients with moderate to severe forms of dementia can somewhat benefit from better cognitive function if they continue their treatment with the drug.
It is now only approved for mild-to-moderate disease, so patients often stop taking it when they deteriorate. The participants were randomly selected to either continue donepezil or withdraw from the drug by receiving a placebo.
“Our new results show that these benefits translate into a delay in becoming dependant on residential care, a point that many of us dread”.
The findings are reported in the Lancet Neurology journal.
A 2012 Donepezil study showed that the drug provided functional and cognitive benefits to patients with severe Alzheimer’s disease.
Memantine, on the other hand, had no effect on the risk of moving to a nursing home, according to the study.
Treatments such as donepezil can help better support people with dementia to lead independent lives for a longer period of time and extend the time they are able to spend in their own homes, with their loved ones. While this was the primary outcome of the trial, the researchers have completed a secondary analysis of the data to investigate whether the different combinations of drugs allowed people with Alzheimer’s to live at home for longer.
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“We urge clinicians to consider the implications of this research and adjust their prescribing patterns accordingly”, he added.
