The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Aricept (donepezil hydrochloride) to treat symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

The FDA action in late November makes Aricept only the second approved treatment for Alzheimer's disease. It joins Warner Lambert Company's Cognex (tacrine hydrochloride).

Like Cognex, Aricept is a palliative that does nothing to slow the progressive neurodegeneration that ultimately leads to dementia and death. By helping the brain retain and utilize the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, however, both drugs slow the symptomatic progression of the disease, temporarily stabilizing or improving the cognitive state of those taking either drug.

Where Aricept has a major advantage is in its relative lack of toxicity compared with Cognex, according to data submitted to the FDA. In addition to lack of liver toxicity, Aricept has a generally more benign side-effect profile than Cognex.

With so few alternatives available, pharmaceutical industry analysts are predicting that Aricept will capture a bigger market share than Cognex. Aricept has the potential to do up to $800 million in annual sales compared with sales of Cognex, which remain below $100 million yearly, according to an article in the November 26, 1996, edition of the Wall Street Journal.

Aricept is a product of Japan's Eisai Company and will be comarketed in the United States with Pfizer Inc.

In another Alzheimer's-related development, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals announced on November 22 that it was launching a large-scale clinical study of Exelon, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor designed to alleviate symptoms of the disease.

(Psychiatric News, January 17, 1997)