A highly inexpensive Alzheimer’s drug is capable of keeping late stage dementia patients out of care homes, researchers have revealed. Authors of the new study have called upon doctors to rethink their prescription pattern as the drug is helpful to patients with severe dementia as well.
Researchers at University College London carried out a study involving 295 people who had been enrolled on the original 2012 study to see how well they did after doctors returned to normal prescribing, notes The Telegraph. According to authors of the study, 37 per cent of the patients who were taken off donepezil ended up in a care home within 12 months, compared with just 20 per cent of those who remained on the drug.
Published in The Lancet Neurology, the study reveals that the drug donepezil – brand name Aricept – which costs just 6p a day could keep tens of thousands of Alzheimer’s patients out of care homes during late stage of their disease. Researchers also suggest that this isn’t happening as doctors are asking patients to stop taking the drug believing that it does little good.
According to University College London researcher Robert Howard, the lead author of the study and Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, the drug has a moderate effect but it has the ability to delay the need to put Alzheimer’s patients to care homes which could cost up to £34,000 annually. In contrast an entire year’s supply of Aricept costs just £21.59.
“Stopping donepezil could worsen the ability of the person with dementia to cope with the usual activities of daily living which may mean that living at home becomes impossible”, said Dr Ian Maidment, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy at Aston University, and spokesperson for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Researchers are calling up on doctors to considering the findings of the study and rethink their prescription pattern so as to make the best use possible of currently available dementia drugs.
“These robust findings are of real significance to people with dementia and their families who want to continue living at home for as long as possible”, said Dr Doug Brown, director of research and development at the Alzheimer’s Society. “We urge clinicians to consider the implications of this research and adjust their prescribing patterns accordingly.”
