Shire Pharmaceuticals Group has announced that Dementia patients receiving long-term treatment with Reminyl (more than 36 months) may be able to stay at home for longer compared to those receiving treatment for shorter periods of time. The results of this retrospective study were presented at a recent international congress.
Five hundred and ninety-six patients, from seven countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom) were included in this retrospective analysis(x) of patients who originally participated in one of the three randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trials of galantamine and their subsequent open label follow-up studies (3-4 years). This data was supplemented with data collected retrospectively on former trial patients in 2004. All patients lived at home at entry into the clinical trials, and some of the patients in this study were observed for up to seven years.
Three years after entering the original clinical trial, 92.5 % of patients who had received continuous galantamine treatment were still at home compared to 65 % of patients treated for 24 to 36 months, 48 % of patients treated for 12 to 24 months and 54 % of patients treated for 12 months or less respectively.
Further statistical analyses were employed that took into account the effects of risk factors for institutionalisation such as disease severity, disability with activities of daily living and the absence of a co-resident caregiver. The results of these analyses found that long-term treatment with galantamine was associated with a 27% relative risk reduction for institutionalisation for each additional year of galantamine treatment.
Commenting on these findings, Tuula Pirttilä, study investigator and Professor in Neurology at Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Neurology, Kuopio, Finland said: "For many patients with Alzheimer's disease and their families, postponing admission to a residential or nursing home for as long as possible is very important. This retrospective study suggests that long-term treatment with galantamine may significantly delay the need for residential or nursing home care, prolonging independence and the time patients can spend at home with their families."
Unlike previous pharmaco-economic studies of galantamine, which were based on long-term projections from results of short-term clinical trials, these analyses employed data from long-term studies. The results of this retrospective study are consistent with a similar study on nursing home admission carried out in the USA, suggesting that long-term treatment with galantamine may be associated with a reduced risk of institutionalisation.