Schizophrenia Drug May Also Benefit Alzheimer Patients

A once-daily, 2-mg dose of brexpiprazole is an effective treatment for agitation in patients with Alzheimer-type dementia, according to new data from 2 trials.

These findings were presented by George T. Grossberg, MD, on March 17, 2018, at the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry 2018 Annual Meeting in Honalulu, Hawaii.
_________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Antipsychotic May Help Treat Agitation Linked With Schizophrenia
Alzheimer Disease May Be Foreshadowed by Circadian Dysfunction
_________________________________________________________________________

In the first trial of brexpiprazole, which was a flexible dosing trial, researchers evaluated 270 patients who were randomly assigned to receive a 12-week course of 0.5 mg to 2 mg brexpiprazole (n = 133) or matching placebo (n = 137).

No significant difference was observed in Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) between groups from baseline to 12 weeks.

However, when limiting the analysis to only those who were treated with 2 mg/day brexpiprazole, the researchers found that those who received brexpiprazole had significantly improved CMAI scores compared with those who received placebo.

In a fixed dosing trial, which compared 2 mg/day (n = 140) and 1 mg/day (n = 137) doses of brexpiprazole vs placebo (n = 136), findings indicated that those treated with 2 mg/day brexpiprazole demonstrated greater improvements in CMAI scores vs those treated with placebo.

However, the researchers noted, the same results were not observed for 1 mg/day brexpiprazole compared with placebo.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Grossberg GT. Efficacy and safety of fixed-dose brexpiprazole for the treatment of agitation in Alzheimer’s type dementia: a randomized, double-blind, fixed-dose 12-week, placebo-controlled global clinical trial. Paper presented at: AAGP 2018; March 17, 2018; Honalulu, HI. Abstract LB 13.