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EDITORIALS: Leon Flicker Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors for Alzheimer's disease BMJ 1999; 318: 615-616 [Full text]

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Why is Ginkgo not on the agenda in the dementia debate?

Tom Marshall   (5 March 1999)

Why is Ginkgo not on the agenda in the dementia debate? 5 March 1999
Tom Marshall, Honorary Clinical Lecturer in Public Health Medicine University of Birmingham Send response to journal: Re: Why is Ginkgo not on the agenda in the dementia debate?	Dear Sir, Your editorial debates the merits of cholinesterase inhibitors in the treatment of dementia. There is also, following publication of the Cochrane review last year, good evidence that Ginkgo biloba extract is effective in the treatment of dementia.(1) Ginkgo biloba improves outcomes in a manner relevant to patients' relatives.(2) It is prescribable and also available over the counter. It seems to be well tolerated and the costs is a fraction of the cost of cholinesterase inhibitors. Unfortunately because no single company holds a patent on Gingko biloba it is in no-one's interests to market it. Surely it is the responsibility of leading journals to draw attention to important treatments which may be overlooked by commercial interests. Can we look forward to an editorial on Ginkgo biloba? Yours sincerely, Tom Marshall 1. Oken B et al Archives of Neurology 1998, 55:1409-1415 2. Le Bars P.L., Katz M.M., Berman N. et al. A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trial of an extract of Ginkgo biloba for dementia. Journal of the American Medical Association 1997; 278: 1327-32.