Mar 6, 2006 4:13 pm US/Eastern
Drug May Help Patients With Severe Alzheimer's
by Dr. Mallika Marshall
(CBS4)
Nearly five million Americans now have Alzheimer's and that number will continue to grow as the population ages.
Right now, there's no cure but a few medications appear to at least, slow the progression.
Sandy Marritt was an active New York socialite when her daughter, Joanne Benjamin, noticed that something was wrong.
"She would repeat a lot of different things at the same time."
Sandy has Alzheimer's disease.
She was on Aricept -- the most common Alzheimer's drug.
Now it works -- especially in patients with mild to moderate symptoms.
But now a new study says another drug called Memantine may work in patients who have more severe Alzheimer's.
Dr. Barry Reisberg of the NYU Medical center says, "about 3 times as many patients on the Mematine treatment showed improvement at the end of the six months study compared to those who received placebo."
Researchers say patients taking Memantine continue to do well for over a year.
Sandy's been taking it for three.
"I think it's made my mother more alert, I think it's brought back more of a twinkle in her eye and I think it's made her livelier," said Joanne.
Memantine helps.... but it's not a cure.
"I don't care about if she remembers tomorrow that she was happy yesterday; if she's happy for the moment that's all we care about."
And for people like Joanne Benjamin, any medication that delays the inevitable is worth it.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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