SAVANNAH, GA. — An extended release formulation of memantine 28 mg taken once daily was safe and well-tolerated in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease in a 52-week, open-label, fixed-dose study.
Dr. Barnett Meyers of Weill Medical College, White Plains, N.Y., and his colleagues presented their findings in a poster at the annual meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.
Memantine (Namenda) is administered in twice-daily, immediate-release doses of 10 mg each. A previous 24-week trial indicated that a once-daily 28-mg dose of memantine ER was safe and effective for patients with moderate to severe AD on cholinesterase inhibitors (Alzheimers Dement. 2008;4[suppl. 1]:T793).
A total of 164 outpatients aged 50 or older with probable AD were either titrated to the target dose of memantine ER 28 mg daily over 4 weeks or were switched from twice-daily, immediate-release memantine 10 mg.
Overall, 150 patients reported adverse events, and 8 (5%) had events related to the study medication; 44 patients (27%) had a serious adverse event, but none of the 12 deaths were considered related to treatment. Dr. Meyers and his colleagues concluded that patients taking the 10-mg twice-daily dose can safely switch to memantine ER without a titration period.
Disclosures: The study was funded by Forest Laboratories. Dr. Meyers reported having no conflicts; two of his coauthors are employees of Forest Research Institute.