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38/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 38 out of 100. Treatments

Topic: Drug trials: efficacy and safety

Plain-language summary

A once-daily, fixed-dose combination of memantine extended-release (ER)/donepezil 28/10 mg (Namzaric™) is available in the USA for patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease (AD) on stable memantine and donepezil therapy. The fixed-dose formulation is bioequivalent to coadministration of the individual drugs. In a 24-week, phase III trial in patients with moderate to severe AD, addition of memantine ER 28 mg once daily to stable cholinesterase inhibitor (ChEI) therapy was more effective than add-on placebo on measures of cognition, global clinical status, dementia behaviour and semantic processing ability, although between-group differences on a measure of daily function did not significantly differ. In subgroup analyses in donepezil-treated patients, add-on memantine ER was more effective than add-on placebo on measures of cognition, dementia behaviour and semantic processing, although there were no significant between-group differences on measures of global clinical status and daily function. Memantine ER plus ChEI combination therapy was generally well tolerated in the phase III trial, with diarrhoea, dizziness and influenza occurring at least twice as often with add-on memantine ER as add-on placebo in donepezil-treated patients. Thus, memantine ER plus donepezil combination therapy is an effective and well tolerated treatment option for patients with moderate to severe AD. The fixed-dose combination is potentially more convenient than coadministration of the individual agents.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Greig, S. L. (2015). Memantine ER/Donepezil: A Review in Alzheimer's Disease. CNS drugs. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40263-015-0287-2

Vancouver

Greig SL. Memantine ER/Donepezil: A Review in Alzheimer's Disease. CNS drugs. 2015. doi:10.1007/s40263-015-0287-2. PMID: 26519339.

BibTeX

@article{greig2015-26519339,
  author  = {Greig, Sarah L},
  title   = {{Memantine ER/Donepezil: A Review in Alzheimer's Disease}},
  journal = {CNS drugs},
  year    = {2015},
  doi     = {10.1007/s40263-015-0287-2},
  pmid    = {26519339},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s40263-015-0287-2}
}

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How to read this study

Design: this is a narrative review. It summarises a field without a fixed search method, so it shows how authors read the evidence rather than measuring it. Use it to find the primary studies, not as a result in itself.
Size: the record gives no participant count. Look for one in the original before trusting a pattern.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

In a 24-week, phase III trial in patients with moderate to severe AD, addition of memantine ER 28 mg once daily to stable cholinesterase inhibitor (ChEI) therapy was more effective than add-on placebo on measures of cognition, global clinical status, dementia behaviour and semantic processing ability, although between-group differences on a measure of daily function did not significantly differ.
In subgroup analyses in donepezil-treated patients, add-on memantine ER was more effective than add-on placebo on measures of cognition, dementia behaviour and semantic processing, although there were no significant between-group differences on measures of global clinical status and daily function.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 38/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multicenter collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 21 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 38 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (CNS drugs)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multicenter collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26519339)
Free to read	— / 2	Access not recorded — left out of this score
Points	21 / 56	Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 21 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 38 out of 100.
Total	38 / 100	—

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Where this led: Donepezil on the treatments page — its current status, approval date, side-effect rate and list price, kept up to date.

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