The pharmaceutical company Eisai Co Ltd, have seen an unexpected increase in death rates amongst participants involved in the phase III clinical drug trial of Aricept (donepezil), for the treatment of vascular dementia
Over 900 people with vascular dementia enrolled for the drug trial. Just under 650 took Aricept once a day for 24 weeks and 326 received a placebo. Eleven people in the group taking Aricept died compared with no deaths in the group taking placebos.
Aricept is a commonly prescribed medication taken in early stage Alzheimer's. The trial was to see if people with vascular dementia showed any improvement.
Vascular dementia is the second most common type of dementia and is caused by brain damage due to strokes. People on the Aricept drug trial were therefore also taking medications to treat vascular diseases such as heart conditions and high blood pressure. The trial did find some very minimal improvement in trial participants dementia. Two earlier trials using Aricept for vascular dementia had shown no difference in the death rate in the placebo or Aricept groups, according to the drug company Eisai Co. Ltd
3/18/2006
