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Gordon K Wilcock a Department of Care of the Elderly, Frenchay
Hospital, University of Bristol, Bristol BS16 1LE, b Central Nervous System Clinical Research, Janssen
Research Foundation, Beerse, Belgium
Correspondence to: G K
Wilcock Gordon.Wilcock{at}bris.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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Objective:
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of
galantamine in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Cholinergic deficits are the most prominent neurochemical
disturbances in patients with Alzheimer's disease and are thought to
contribute to the deterioration in memory and other cognitive functions.1 Several pharmacological approaches have been
used in an attempt to correct these deficits, including increasing the
synthesis of acetylcholine, activation of muscarinic or nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, and inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, the
enzyme responsible for the hydrolysis of acetylcholine.2 Of these strategies, inhibition of acetylcholinesterase is currently the most successful treatment for Alzheimer's disease.3
Well designed clinical trials have consistently shown improved
cognition and global assessment scores in patients taking
acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.
3 4
The effects of
cholinesterase inhibitors on patients' activities of daily living are
unclear.
5 6
There is also some evidence that patients who
have the apolipoprotein E4 genotype may have a reduced response to
cholinesterase inhibitors.
7 8
Galantamine is a new drug that reversibly and competitively
inhibits acetylcholinesterase
9 10
and enhances the
response of nicotinic receptors to acetylcholine.11 This
enhancement of nicotinic neurotransmission may be clinically relevant
because activation of presynaptic nicotinic receptors increases the
release of acetylcholine and other neurotransmitters, such as
glutamate, that are deficient in patients with Alzheimer's
disease.
12 13
We evaluated the efficacy and safety of two maintenance doses of
galantamine over six months compared with placebo in patients with mild
to moderate Alzheimer's disease. We also investigated whether the
apolipoprotein E4 genotype influences the response to galantamine.
We studied outpatients who had a history of cognitive decline
that had been gradual in onset and progressive over at least six
months. Participants had to meet the criteria for probable Alzheimer's
disease set out by the National Institute of Neurological and
Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and
Related Disorders Association14 and to have mild to
moderate dementia, defined as a score of 11-24 on the mini-mental state examination15 and a score of Patients were excluded from the study if they had any other
neurodegenerative disorder; multi-infarct dementia or clinically active cerebrovascular disease; cardiovascular disease thought likely
to prevent completion of the study; clinically important cerebrovascular, psychiatric, hepatic, renal, pulmonary, metabolic, or endocrine conditions or urinary outflow obstruction; an active peptic ulcer; or any history of epilepsy or serious drug or alcohol misuse. We also excluded patients who had been treated for Alzheimer's disease with a cholinesterase inhibitor. Any other drugs being taken to
treat dementia had to be discontinued before participation in the
study. The use of drugs for other conditions was permitted during the
study, except that sedative-hypnotic drugs and sedating cough and cold
remedies were discontinued, if possible, in the 48 hours before
cognitive evaluation. Any other drugs with anticholinergic or
cholinomimetic effects were avoided if possible. A blood sample was taken at baseline for apolipoprotein E genotyping.17
The trial was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent revisions and approved by ethics committees at each centre.
Design
Design:
Randomised, double blind, parallel group, placebo controlled trial.
Setting:
86 outpatient clinics in Europe and Canada.
Participants:
653 patients with mild to moderate
Alzheimer's disease.
Intervention:
Patients randomly assigned to
galantamine had their daily dose escalated over three to four weeks to
maintenance doses of 24 or 32 mg.
Main outcome measures:
Scores on the 11 item cognitive
subscale of the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale, the clinician's
interview based impression of change plus caregiver input, and the
disability assessment for dementia scale. The effect of apolipoprotein
E4 genotype on reponse to treatment was also assessed.
Results:
At six months, patients who received
galantamine had a significantly better outcome on the 11 item cognitive
subscale of the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale than patients in
the placebo group (mean treatment effect 2.9 points for lower dose and
3.1 for higher dose, intention to treat analysis, P<0.001 for both
doses). Galantamine was more effective than placebo on the clinician's
interview based impression of change plus caregiver input (P<0.05 for
both doses v placebo). At six months, patients in the
higher dose galantamine group had significantly better scores on the
disability assessment for dementia scale than patients in the placebo
group (mean treatment effect 3.4 points, P<0.05). Apolipoprotein E
genotype had no effect on the efficacy of galantamine. 80% (525) of
patients completed the study.
Conclusion:
Galantamine is effective and well
tolerated in Alzheimer's disease. As galantamine slowed the decline of
functional ability as well as cognition, its effects are likely to be
clinically relevant.
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Introduction
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Participants and methods
Results
Discussion
References
![]()
Participants and methods
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Participants and methods
Results
Discussion
References
12 on the 11 item
cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's disease assessment
scale.16 Patients had to live with, or be visited at least
five days a week by, a responsible caregiver. The caregiver
together with the patient (or their relative, guardian, or legal
representative) provided written informed consent to participate in the
study. Patients with concomitant diseases such as hypertension, heart
failure (New York Heart Association grade I-II), type 2 diabetes
mellitus, and hypothyroidism were included in the study provided that
their illness was controlled.
This was a six month, parallel group, double blind, placebo
controlled trial undertaken in 86 centres in eight countries (Canada,
Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the
United Kingdom). After a four week, single blind, placebo run-in phase,
patients were randomly assigned to one of two galantamine treatment
groups or a placebo group by simple randomisation. The randomisation
schedule was computer generated at the Janssen Research Foundation. The
assignments were kept in sealed, opaque, numbered envelopes, each
containing the allocation for the next patient. Treatment was started
on the day of allocation. The randomisation code was not broken until the database had been formally closed. In both galantamine groups, the
galantamine regimen was 8 mg daily for one week, increasing to 16 mg
daily for the second week and to 24 mg daily for the third week. In the
fourth week, one galantamine group continued on 24 mg while the other
group had the dose increased to 32 mg daily. Patients then continued
with their target dose of galantamine or placebo for a further five
months, during which time patients were reviewed monthly. To help
maintain blinding, all individual doses of galantamine and placebo
were taken twice daily and were identical in appearance, taste, and smell.
0 and
4 points, based in part on US
Food and Drug Administration's guidance on what is considered to be a
clinically important effect20; and the disability
assessment for dementia scale, based on an interview with the
caregiver, to assess activities of daily living (self care activities,
instrumental (complex) activities of daily living, planning and
organisation, leisure, effective performance, initiation). The
disability assessment scale uses 46 questions and has a score range of
0-100 (higher scores indicate better functioning).21 These
assessments were performed at baseline and after three and six months;
the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale was also measured after three
weeks. All efficacy variables were analysed as a change from baseline. If one item was missing from an assessment, that particular assessment was not included in the efficacy analysis.
Safety evaluations throughout the study comprised physical
examinations, electrocardiography, measurements of vital signs, standard laboratory tests, and monitoring for adverse events
(classified according to World Health Organization preferred terms).
For the first month, the investigator contacted the patient or
caregiver, or both, at weekly intervals to record any adverse events;
thereafter, safety was evaluated at monthly clinic visits.
Statistical analysis
Based on data from a phase II trial (Janssen Research
Foundation, unpublished data) we calculated that we needed about 180 patients in each treatment group to achieve 80% power (
=0.025 with
a Bonferroni adjustment) for detecting a 2.75 point difference in the
change in 11 item cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's disease
assessment scores after six months between patients who received
galantamine and those who received placebo. The 2.75 point change was
considered to be clinically meaningful in view of the expected six
month deterioration in patients in the placebo group and the magnitude
of treatment difference in a trial of the cholinesterase inhibitor
tacrine.22
traditional "observed case" analysis. To confirm
the robustness of the observed case analysis, we performed a six month
intention to treat analysis that included all randomised patients who
had any efficacy assessment, whether at baseline or during treatment.
In this analysis, the last available assessment was carried forward
into all subsequent assessment times for which actual data were not
available. All results discussed are based on the observed case
analysis unless otherwise stated.
Changes from baseline in efficacy variables, vital signs,
electrocardiographic results, and body weight were assessed with the
two sided, paired t test. We used the following methods to compare variables between each galantamine group and the placebo group:
analysis of variance, using treatment and country as factors, with
pairwise Dunnett's tests for changes from baseline in cognitive subscales of the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale and the disability assessment for dementia; generalised Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test, controlling for country, for response rates to the 11 item cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale; Van
Elteren test,23 controlling for country, for the
clinician's interview based impression of change plus caregiver input.
The Van Elteren test is derived from the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test and uses modified ridit scores to assess differences in the
distribution of scores between both galantamine groups and placebo. We
used an analysis of variance, using treatment and country as factors, with pairwise Fisher's least significant difference tests, for changes
from baseline in vital signs, electrocardiograms, and body weight. The
time-response relation for change in the 11 item cognitive subscale of
the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale was analysed by generalised
linear mixed modelling. Exploratory analysis of variance was used to
investigate any relation between baseline characteristics and changes
in the 11 item cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's disease
assessment scale. All tests were evaluated at the 5% significance
level. The statistical software used was SAS version 6.12.
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Results |
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Of the 753 patients screened for the study, 653 were randomised to treatment. All randomised patients received at least one dose of trial medication. Of the 653 randomised patients, 87% (186/215) of those in the placebo group compared with 80% (176/220) and 75% (163/218) in the lower and higher galantamine dose groups, respectively, completed the study (fig 1). The baseline characteristics of the three treatment groups were comparable (table 1). Overall, 85% (556/653) of patients received concomitant drugs during the double blind phase of the study, most commonly analgesics. The proportions of patients taking concomitant psychotropic drugs during the double blind phase were similar across groups (38% (81) in placebo compared with 37% (81) and 41% (90) in the galantamine groups). The baseline characteristics of patients who completed the study remained comparable across the three treatment groups. Patients who did and did not complete the study had comparable baseline characteristics, except that those who did not complete were slightly older (mean age 74.1 v 71.7 years).
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Since serious protocol deviations occurred for only 28 (4%) randomised patients, of which 18 were cases of non-compliance, we did not do per protocol analyses.
Primary efficacy variables
At six months, patients who received galantamine had
significantly better cognitive function than patients in the placebo
group (difference in mean change in score from baseline on the 11 item
cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale 3.1 (95% confidence interval 1.7 to 4.5) for lower dose group and 4.1 (2.7 to 5.6) for higher dose group; P<0.001 in both cases; fig 2, table 2).
These differences were confirmed in the intention to treat analysis
(table 2). The difference in mean change from baseline score increased
progressively over time (P<0.0001 for both doses). The improvement
from baseline in cognitive function was significant at six months for
the higher dose of galantamine (P<0.001) (table 2). The fall in the
placebo group was also significant (P<0.001). Improvements in
cognitive function from baseline in the galantamine groups were seen
within one week of reaching a dose of 24 mg daily (mean 1.3 (SE 0.36)
points for lower dose and 1.7 (0.37) for higher doses; P<0.001 in both
cases). Galantamine produced a better outcome than placebo on the
11 item cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale
regardless of the number of copies of the E4 apolipoprotein allele that
a patient had (table
3).
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Secondary efficacy variables
Galantamine produced a better outcome on the extended
Alzheimer's disease assessment scale than placebo at six months; the
treatment effect was 3.1 points for the lower dose and 4.0 points for
the higher dose (P<0.001, intention to treat and observed case
analyses). More patients taking galantamine also improved on the 11 point scale than patients taking placebo (table 2).
Safety
At least 5% more patients in the galantamine group than in
the placebo group reported nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness,
headache, anorexia, and weight loss, with nausea being the most common
adverse event (table 4). Nausea was rated as mild to moderate by most
(153/169) patients. About two thirds (115/169) of the patients treated
with galantamine who reported nausea had one episode, which usually
started during the dose escalation period. The median duration was six
days for the 24 mg dose group and five days for the 32 mg group. Most
adverse events (92%) were mild to moderate in severity, and the
proportion of serious adverse events was similar in the three treatment
groups (12-13%).
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Discussion |
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Our study shows that, compared with placebo, galantamine significantly improved cognition and global function in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. These therapeutic effects were associated with significant benefits on patients' activities of daily living.
The clinical benefits of galantamine were seen with all three measures of cognitive function and in patients with both mild and moderate disease. The difference between the galantamine and placebo groups on the 11 item cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale was 7 points for patients with moderately severe disease. Although this was an exploratory analysis, it represents a large treatment effect. A global assessment, such as that provided by the clinician's interview based impressions of change plus caregiver input, is one way of measuring the clinical relevance of any improvements in cognitive function.24 This tool is based on the idea that if a drug's effect can be detected by a clinician during an interview with the patient and carer then this effect is likely to be clinically meaningful. We found a significant difference in the distribution of clinician interview scores between each galantamine group and placebo. Moreover, two thirds of patients who received galantamine were judged to have improved or remained stable at six months compared with half of those in the placebo group.
Galantamine had a significantly better effect on daily functioning than placebo. In addition, the change from baseline in disability assessment for dementia score at six months was not significant for the higher dose galantamine group, suggesting that activities of daily living had not deteriorated. As with all functional scales used in dementia studies, a clinically relevant treatment difference has not been defined for the disability assessment for dementia scale. Nevertheless, it is a validated, comprehensive measure of functional ability,21 and our results suggest that galantamine slows the progression of functional decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. This outcome has been replicated in a similar study in the United States.25 We would expect this effect to be clinically important because deterioration in functional ability often contributes to an increase in a patient's need for care.26
Effects of other cholinesterase inhibitors
The effects of traditional cholinesterase inhibitors on
activities of daily living are unclear.6 Metrifonate was
shown to have functional benefits in a six month study that used the
disability assessment for dementia scale.27 Studies on
donepezil have either not reported functional
benefits28-30 or have shown benefit if basic activities
of daily living (self care tasks such as dressing and personal hygiene)
are removed from the analysis.31 Rivastigmine was also
shown to have favourable effects on daily
activities,
32 33
although the validity of these results
has been questioned.6
Side effects
Galantamine was well tolerated by most patients. The
completion rates for the two galantamine groups were comparable to
those reported for other cholinesterase inhibitors.30-33
More adverse events were reported with the higher dose, and more
patients who received the higher dose discontinued treatment as a
result of adverse events. The most common adverse event in the
galantamine groups was nausea, which has also been reported with other
cholinesterase inhibitors.
30 31 33
For most patients in
our study, nausea was mild to moderate and lasted a median of five to
six days.
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What is already known on this topic
Alzheimer's disease is characterised by a progressive decline in patients' cognitive function and ability to perform daily activities Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors have been shown to improve cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer's disease It is unclear whether changes in cognitive function, as measured on a psychometric scale, translate into clinically important outcomes for patients and their carers What this study addsGalantamine significantly improved cognitive function relative to placebo over six months Treatment also slowed the progression of functional decline The beneficial effect was evident in patients with and without the apolipoprotein E4 allele |
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Acknowledgments |
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The clinical investigators for the study were as follows:
Canada: Addington D, Ancill R, Bergman H, Campbell B, Feldman H, Hutchings R, McCracken P, McKelvey R, Mohr E, Nair V, Naranjo C, Rabheru K, Rajput A, Robillard A, Van Reekum R, Veloso F.
Finland: Alhainen K, Erkinjuntti T, Hedman C, Jolma T, Koivisto K, Pirttilä T, Rinne J, Sulkava R, Tarvainen I.
France: Auriacombe S, Benoit M, Borsotti J, Bouchacourt M, Boulliat J, Dourneau M, Feteanu D, Gras P, Guard O, Hourant C, Joyeux O, Lemarquis P, Rageot P, Rouch I, Verlhac B.
Germany: Benkert O, Frölich L, Hampel H, Heinze H, Horn R, Jauss M, Kessler C, Kornhuber J, Kurz A, Möller H, Rösler M, Schröder J, Uebelhack R, Wiltfang J.
Netherlands: Dautzenberg P, Eerenberg J, Groeneveld W, Kleyweg R, Pop P, Sanders E, Scheltens P, Siebenga E, van der Cammen T, Wiezer J, Wouters C.
Norway: Bjørnson L, Hoprekstad D, Nygaard H, Pettersen R, Radunovic Z, Sletvold O, Sparr S.
Sweden: Åhlin A, Andersson E, Andreasen N, Edman Å, Elofsson G, Eriksson L, Hansson G, Karlson I, Karlsson M, Kilander L, Klingén S, Mahnfeldt M, Marcusson J, Minthon L, Nagga K, Olofsson H, Passant U, Sjögren M, Syversen S, Wallin A, Werner-Bengtsson L.
United Kingdom: Bamrah J, Bullock R, Grimley Evans J, Katona C, Livingston G, O'Malley P, McKeith I, Somerville W, Thompson P, Vethanayagam S, Waite J, Wilcock G, Wilkinson D.
Contributors: GKW and SL participated in the design and execution of the study as well as analysis of data and writing the paper. EG participated in analysing and interpreting the data and writing the paper. GKW will act as the guarantor for the paper.
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Footnotes |
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Clinical investigators in the Galantamine International-1 Study Group are listed at the end of the paper.
Funding: The study was supported by funding from Janssen Research Foundation, Beerse, Belgium.
Competing interests: GKW's department receives research support from Shire Pharmaceuticals Group and Janssen Pharmaceutica, who have codeveloped galantamine. GKW has received consultancy fees from Shire Pharmaceuticals Group and Janssen Pharmaceutica.
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2010-2016 |
(Accepted 10 August 2000)
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