Medical, Drugs, Pharmaceuticals And Diseases Information

Rivastigmine brand name Exelon is a parasympathomimetic or cholinergic developed by Novartis for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. It became the first product approved globally for the treatment of mild to moderate AD. Rivastigmine has been available in capsule and liquid formulations since 1997 and from 2007 the rivastigmine transdermal patch became the first patch treatment for dementia and Alzheimer’s Disaese. Rivastigmine is a cholinesterase inhibitor that inhibits both butyryl cholinesterase and acetyl cholinesterase. Donepezil the other drug for treating dementia is selective for acetylcholinesterase. It is thought that rivastigmine works by inhibiting these cholinesterase enzymes, which would otherwise break down the brain chemical acetylcholine.

The US FDA has approved rivastigmine capsules and patch for the treatment of mild to moderate dementias related to both Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s Disease. It has is now used in more than 6 million patients world-wide. Rivastigmine has is very effective in improving the cognitive (thinking and memory), functional (activities of daily living) and behavioral problems that are commonly associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease dementias.

In patients with either type of dementia, rivastigmine has been shown to provide meaningful symptomatic effects that may allow patients to remain independent for longer. In particular, rivastigmine appears to show marked treatment effects in patients showing a more course of aggressive disease, such as those with a younger age of onset, a poor nutritional status, or those experiencing symptoms such as delusions or hallucinations. Those Alzheimer’ patients who have the presence of hallucinations appears to benefit more from rivastigmine. It has been proposed that these effects might reflect the additional inhibition of butyryl cholinesterase, which is implicated in symptom progression and might provide added benefits over acetyl cholinesterase-selective drugs in some patients.