Memantine drug data and news

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Memantine Shows Promise In Treating Alzheimer's  07 Mar 2006
Alzheimer's. It's called memantine. ... He says patients taking memantine continue to do well even as their illness progresses. "The ... - KFMB,

Drug May Help Patients With Severe Alzheimer's  07 Mar 2006
...moderate symptoms. But now a new study says another drug called Memantine may work in patients who have more severe Alzheimer's. Dr ... - CBS4Boston,

Healthy lifestyle lowers risk of dementia caused by white matter ...  07 Mar 2006
...aging program at Butler Hospital in Providence, RI, said more than half a dozen trials of Alzheimer's drugs - donepezil, galantamine and memantine - have shown ... - Canada.com,

Alzheimer’s Disease Questions and Answers  Feb 28, 2006
...the other medications. Namenda (memantine) is the first drug approved for the treatment of moderate to severe AD. Namenda is an ... - KPHO Phoenix,

Update on major health topics  Feb 19, 2006
...occur. When tested for six months, memantine proved able to slow the progression of symptoms in people with advanced Alzheimer's. ... - Seattle Times,

Neurobiological Technologies Inc. Receives $1.4 Million Quarterly ...  Feb 1, 2006
...received a royalty payment of $1,365,850 million from Merz Pharmaceuticals GmbH (Merz) for sales in the quarter ended September 30, 2005 of Memantine for the ... - Yahoo! News (press release)

Alzheimer's drug maker gets $1.37M payment  Feb 1, 2006
Neurobiological Technologies Inc. said Wednesday that Merz Pharmaceuticals GmbH paid it royalties of $1.37 million for sales of Memantine, an Alzheimer's drug. ... - East Bay Business Times,

Replidyne and Forest Laboratories Announce FDA Acceptance for ...  Feb 23, 2006
...indicated for the initial and maintenance treatment of major depressive disorder and for generalized anxiety disorder in adults; Namenda(R) (memantine HCl), an ... - Finanzen.net,

Improving Alzheimer’s treatment  Feb 6, 2006
Dr. Chroman said, “a new class of medications, called NMDA receptor antagonists, has been developed – represented by a drug called memantine and marketed ... - San Bernardino Sun,

Immune to Fear  Feb 14, 2006
The scientists determined just how the cells died by giving the mice memantine (which blocks the NMDA receptor) prior to opening the blood-brain barrier: The ... - American Scientist

Neurobiological Technologies Reports Fiscal 2006 Second Quarter ...  Feb 9, 2006
Our second quarter 2005 revenues consisted of $1,268,000 from royalty fees from the commercial sales of Memantine by our marketing partners in the United ... - PR Newswire (press release),

Evotec completes Phase I component for Alzheimer’s drug  Feb 8, 2006
Nevertheless, memantine, a relatively low affinity, non-selective NMDA receptor blocker has been recently approved in both the US and Europe for the treatment ... - In-PharmaTechnologist.com,

Alzheimer's Drugs Offer Modest Improvements, Equal Effectiveness  Feb 5, 2006
10, 2006 - Memantine, marketed as Namenda, was approved in 2003 as the first drug okayed by the FDA for the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease ... - SeniorJournal.com,

Trapeze expands in Europe  Feb 1, 2006
...(NTII) received a royalty payment of $1.37 million from Merz Pharmaceuticals GmbH for sales of Alzheimer's drug Memantine during the quarter ended Sept. 30. ... - San Jose Mercury News,

(PRN) - Salesforce.com Delivers Japanese AppExchange, Further ...  Feb 1, 2006
Program ... [+. PRN) - Neurobiological Technologies Inc. Receives $1.4 Million Quarterly Royalty Payment Related to Memantine ... [+. PRN ... - Bolsamania.com,

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists: The combined use of NAMENDA with other NMDA antagonists (amantadine, ketamine, and dextromethorphan) has not been systematically evaluated and such use should be approached with caution.

Effects of NAMENDA on substrates of microsomal enzymes: In vitro studies conducted with marker substrates of CYP450 enzymes (CYP1A2, -2A6, -2C9, -2D6, -2E1, -3A4) showed minimal inhibition of these enzymes by memantine. In addition, in vitro studies indicate that at concentrations exceeding those associated with efficacy, memantine does not induce the cytochrome P450 isozymes CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2E1 and CYP3A4/5. No pharmacokinetic interactions with drugs metabolized by these enzymes are expected.

Effects of inhibitors and/or substrates of microsomal enzymes on NAMENDA: Memantine is predominantly renally eliminated, and drugs that are substrates and/or inhibitors of the CYP450 system are not expected to alter the metabolism of memantine.

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors: Coadministration of NAMENDA with the AChE inhibitor donepezil HCl did not affect the pharmacokinetics of either compound. In a 24-week controlled clinical study in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimerís disease, the adverse event profile observed with a combination of memantine and donepezil was similar to that of donepezil alone.

Drugs eliminated via renal mechanisms: Because memantine is eliminated in part by tubular secretion, coadministration of drugs that use the same renal cationic system, including hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), triamterene (TA), metformin, cimetidine, ranitidine, quinidine, and nicotine, could potentially result in altered plasma levels of both agents. However, coadministration of NAMENDA and HCTZ/TA did not affect the bioavailability of either memantine or TA, and the bioavailability of HCTZ decreased by 20%. In addition, coadministration of memantine with the antihyperglycemic drug GlucovanceÒ (glyburide and metformin HCl) did not affect the pharmacokinetics of memantine, metformin and glyburide. Furthermore, memantine did not modify the serum glucose lowering effect of GlucovanceÒ.

Drugs that make the urine alkaline: The clearance of memantine was reduced by about 80% under alkaline urine conditions at pH 8. Therefore, alterations of urine pH towards the alkaline condition may lead to an accumulation of the drug with a possible increase in adverse effects. Urine pH is altered by diet, drugs (e.g. carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, sodium bicarbonate) and clinical state of the patient (e.g. renal tubular acidosis or severe infections of the urinary tract). Hence, memantine should be used with caution under these conditions.