Transdermal AD patch impresses in IDEAL trial

Swiss drug major Novartis says that the results of a study of Exelon (rivastigmine), its transdermal patch treatment for Alzheimer's disease-related dementia, indicate that it has comparable efficacy to oral rivastigmine capsules. The firm added that the findings, which were published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, demonstrate that the product has potential as a round the clock therapy for symptomatic AD patients.

The IDEAL study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled assessment designed to compare the efficacy, safety and tolerability of the patch with that of conventional twice-daily rivastigmine tablets. The 12-week program enrolled 1,195 patients who were randomly assigned to one of four groups (10cm2 patch; 20cm2 patch; 12mg/day tablet or placebo).

Analysis of the efficacy data showed that use of the patch resulted in treatment differences on the ADAS-Cog scale (compared with placebo) of 1.6 and 2.6, respectively, while those in the tablet treated arm achieved an average 1.6 point improvement. Efficacy findings in terms of ADCS-CGIC, a caregiver assessment, were also similar across the three groups at 0.3, 0.2 and 0.3, with the 10cm2 patch demonstrating non-inferiority to the tablet.