ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 29, 1996 TAG: 9611290097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alzheimer's patients are getting a second drug that fights the memory-robbing symptoms of the fatal brain disease - and may be taken by many more patients because it causes fewer side effects.
The drug Aricept, created by Japan's Eisai Co., won Food and Drug Administration approval this week. Pfizer Inc., which will sell the drug here, said it will be on pharmacy shelves in several weeks.
Aricept ``provides another choice'' for patients who cannot take Cognex, the only other Alzheimer's medication sold, said Dr. Zhaven Khachaturian of the Alzheimer's Association's Reagan Research Institute.
``In terms of being radically different, no it's not,'' he said. ``But it has less nuisance.''
Four million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease, which has no known cause or cure. It afflicts mainly the elderly, robbing them of their memories and ability to care for themselves, and eventually kills them.
Aricept, known chemically as donepezil, works essentially the same as Cognex, also called tacrine.
Neither drug slows Alzheimer's progression. But they ease mild to moderate symptoms by inhibiting the breakdown of acetylcholine, a brain chemical vital for nerve cells to communicate with each other. The longer acetylcholine stays around in the brain, the longer those cells can call up the patient's memories.
The difference is that Aricept targets only acetylcholine in the brain, while Cognex can affect related chemicals throughout the body, explained Sharon Rogers, research chief at the company's U.S. plant, Eisai America Inc.
That broader action gives Cognex more opportunity for side effects, and it can cause serious liver abnormalities. Many Cognex patients must have blood drawn weekly to check liver function, a task that becomes increasingly difficult as Alzheimer's progresses.
In contrast, Aricept's chief side effects are diarrhea and nausea.
In tests giving Aricept or dummy pills to almost 500 patients, 80 percent of Aricept patients saw their cognitive symptoms stabilize or even improve slightly.
The drug didn't work for everyone, and how large a benefit it really conveys is unknown because patients being treated with it were compared with placebo patients who declined more slowly than the typical Alzheimer's victim, the FDA warned.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB