A comparative study of donepezil and tacrine in treatment of Alzheimer disease

Objective To verify the security and efficacy of donepezil in treating Alzheimer disease (AD) Methods A multi center open labeled study was conducted Sixty one patients with AD were divided into two groups, 33 treated with donepezil (mean dose of 5 mg per day) and 28 with tacrine (mean dose of 100 mg per day) The treatment persisted for 12 weeks The efficacy was evaluated with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and the side effects with the Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale Results Total 70% of the patients in donepezil group were improved, in which 51% much improved, and in tacrine group, the efficacy rates were 68% and 46%, respectively The difference between both the groups was not significant (χ 2=0 023 and 0 011, respectively) The improvement began at the end of 4th week of treatment in both groups There was no difference in increase rate of MMSE score and decrease rate of ADL score between both groups after treatment The side effects of donepezil were significantly less and lighter than that of tacrine Conclusions It is efficacious of donepezil in treating Alzheimer disease, with little and light side effects