ARICEPT better tolerated than Exelon in patients with mild to moderate Alzheime...( >Three times as many patients in the Ex...),Health

During the 12-week, open-label trial, 111 patients (59% female) with an average age of 74.5 years (51-90 years) were randomized and treated with either ARICEPT or Exelon for 12 weeks. Patients were dosed according to the approved product labeling for each medication.

Patients in the ARICEPT study arm received 5 mg once daily for 4 weeks and 10 mg once daily thereafter, if tolerated. Patients in the Exelon study arm received 1.5 mg twice daily for 2 weeks with dose increases of 1.5 mg twice daily every 2 weeks until reaching 12 mg (6 mg twice daily), if tolerated. Patients who could not tolerate higher doses were allowed to continue in the study at the next lower tolerated dose. Patients who could not tolerate at least 5 mg daily of ARICEPT (donepezil hydrochloride) or 6 mg daily (3 mg twice daily) of Exelon (rivastigmine tartrate) were discontinued from the study.

In this study, the most frequent treatment-emergent adverse events for ARICEPT versus Exelon included: nausea (10.7% vs 41.8%); vomiting (7.1% vs 23.6%); headache (7.1% vs 18.2%); anorexia (1.8% vs 9.1%); abnormal dreams (7.1% vs 1.8%); back pain (7.1% vs 0.0%); som
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