Memantine has been shown to be ineffective in the treatment of AD patients

Good afternoon All, a study was recently conducted that showed the drug memantine, or Namenda by its brand name, is ineffective for patients with moderate Alzheimers disease. The majority of doctors prescribe memantine coupled with a cholinesterase inhibitor, which prevents the breakdown of neurotransmitters which have been associated with memory, while memantine blocks NMDA glutamate receptors. The authors of the study argued that the combination of these drugs do not slow down the progression of the disease. Ultimately, there is no known cure for AD, the aforementioned medications are meant to help minimize the severity of symptoms and work differently for different people according to the study.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/11/alzheimer.drug.ineffective/index.html

--I wanted to learn a little more about memantine, I was able to track down a very lengthy review article that discusses memantine in relation to AD and cholinesterase inhibitors. Memantine is a uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist. The overexcitation of these neurons is just one of many hypotheses that can explain the progression of AD. So the weak firing from low levels of glutamate will be blocked by the memantine and lead to overall improvement but will not effect stronger synaptice responese which are required for normal functioning. Overall, the review argues that memantine protects against neurodegeneration brought on by AB, however these were results from a mouse model. Overall, I liked the figures that the review included, the writing seemed straight forward, however while reading the review, the authors make a strong push for their medication. Even though this medication was cleared by the FDA, and showed strong results in mouse models, but from the study mentioned above, memantine has not been effective. Should they go back to the drawing board to research for other ideas on treating AD, or do you think uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists and cholinesterase inhibitors are the right direction we should be going?

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1527-3458.2003.tb00254.x/pdf