Patients with severe Alzheimer's disease who are living at home with family care givers and are treated with donepezil stabilise or decline more slowly than patients given placebo, according to a multinational, randomised, placebo controlled trial published in Neurology (2007;69:459-69).

Donepezil was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last year for the treatment of severe Alzheimer's disease as well as mild to moderate forms. The Canadian authorities approved its use for severe forms of the disease in June 2007.

Sandra Black, of the University of Toronto and lead author of the paper, said that …