Drug tested in Vegas shows promise in relieving agitation in Alzheimer’s patients
Encouraging results from a drug trial to reduce agitation often felt by Alzheimer's patients and led by the director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study tested the drug AVP-923 in participants with Alzheimer's disease and moderate-to-severe agitation over a 10-week period. The drug's success so far in the DM/Q trial will prompt a clinical phase in preparation for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
If approved, AVP-923 will be the first FDA-approved drug to treat agitation in Alzheimer's disease.
"The effects from the DM/Q trial were remarkable and one of the strongest we've ever seen," said Dr. Jeffrey Cummings, director of the Ruvo center, who led the study. "Usually it takes at least three weeks to see a change, but in this case, our participants started experiencing benefits within one week."
The trial took place at the Ruvo center and 41 other locations nationwide.
"These preliminary findings require confirmation in additional clinical trials with longer treatment duration," Cummings wrote in the journal article.
More than 90 percent of Alzheimer's patients experience symptoms with both neurological and psychiatric features, and agitation is one of the most frequent, the Journal of the American Medical Association said. Agitation is not only distressing for the patient but often carries risk to patients, family members and caregivers. Agitation also can trigger the decision to put an Alzheimer's patient into a facility for treatment.
Effective treatment options for agitation in patients with Alzheimer disease are limited, so clinical innovation in this area is a high priority.
The Ruvo center will not participate in the upcoming clinical phase of the DM/Q trial because its researchers are committed to another federal project, Cummings said.
Contact Steven Moore at smoore@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563.
