Exelon, Rivastigmine News

People taking one of several drugs commonly prescribed to treat Alzheimer's disease are more likely to be hospitalized for a potentially serious condition called bradycardia than patients not taking these medications.

The following is extracted from a letter written to the National Health Fund on May 25, 2009, by Dr Loraine Barnaby while she was consultant psychiatrist in the Dementia Clinic at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

The following is extracted from a letter written to the National Health Fund on May 25, 2009, by Dr Loraine Barnaby while she was consultant psychiatrist in the Dementia Clinic at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

The following is extracted from a letter written to the National Health Fund on May 25, 2009, by Dr Loraine Barnaby while she was consultant psychiatrist in the Dementia Clinic at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

NEW Abstract A straightforward chemoenzymatic synthesis of enantiomerically pure rivastigmine has been efficiently carried out under mild reaction conditions, with Candida antarctica lipase B responsible for the stereoselective acetylation of the corresponding -alcohol or amine.

Medication can improve the quality of life for people with Alzheimer's and their caregivers.

The protracted battle in the UK over access to Alzheimer's drugs has finally ended, with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence issuing its final technology appraisal for the medicines, which was updated in the light of the court case against Eisai and Pfizer, manufacturers and distributors of Aricept .

"Is there any advantage of giving patients higher doses of rivastigmine? There doesn't seem to be any," said lead review author Jacqueline Birks, senior medical statistician for the University of Oxford, in England.

Sometimes less is better than more. In a new study, lower doses of an Alzheimer's drug delivered via skin patches improve cognition with fewer serious side effects than higher doses.