Apparently there is a new delivery system for the recently introduced Alzheimer's drug. For quite a while I was following Alzheimer's developments as one grandparent on each side had it. But when they died, I apparently stopped paying attention because I wasn't even aware that an Alzheimer's drug had come out last year. The patch makes a lot of sense, because getting Alzheimer's patients to take capsules regularly is notoriously difficult.
Does anyone have any experience with a family member and this drug? I'm interested to see how well it works.
Dear Sebastian,
Any Alzheimer's drug that can be delivered using a patch is an extraordinary improvement. Many Alzheimer patients have a great deal of difficulty swallowing, and will hold the pills in their mouths and spit them out later. It is very difficult to try to force them to take their medicine, because their sense of dignity is being assaulted when you try to coerce or persuade them. I think that even if the patch is less effective in delivering the medicine, it is better many times than oral administration.
Best of luck to everybody trying to help someone with the various difficulties of aging.
Posted by: DaveC | July 10, 2007 at 11:49 AM
Dear Sebastian,
Exelon, now available in patch form, isn't a new drug for Alzheimer's Disease; it was approved by the FDA in 2000. Like all Alzheimer drugs, its efficacy is unclear.
Posted by: Mary Jo Graves | July 10, 2007 at 10:47 PM