Study Casts Doubts on Alzheimer Drug Seroquel
A drug used to treat dementia patients is making their condition worse, according to new research on Alzheimer sufferers in the North.
Seroquel is given to about 45pc of dementia patients in care homes to control agitation, hallucinations and aggression.
But research based on patients in the Newcastle area claims today that Seroquel is ineffective at treating agitation and is increasing the mental decline of dementia sufferers.
Drug company AstraZeneca has rejected the claims and said it remains confident of Seroquel’s safety and effectiveness. It says more than eight million people have used the drug since 1997.
Scientists at Newcastle University, Oxford and London studied 93 people with Alzheimer’s disease living in care homes in Newcastle.
Patients were given the drug over a six-month period to compare its effects to other medications and scientists found a “substantially greater cognitive decline” in patients treated with Seroquel.
The Alzheimer’s Research Trust said the research highlighted the long-term dangers of using this group of drugs on dementia patients and called for new and safe treatments.
Lead researcher Prof Clive Ballard, now of Kings College but who began the project while professor of old age psychiatry at Newcastle University, said: “Seroquel is one of a group of neuroleptic drugs that is used to control the behavioural symptoms of dementia and is regarded as one of the safest of its type. But our research has revealed that, far from being safe, Seroquel is potentially very dangerous for Alzheimer’s sufferers and showed a very dramatic rate of decline in the memory, attention span and higher brain function of patients.
“Seroquel’s performance was actually three times worse than the most effective drug used in treating dementia and when you consider that it has been used to treat more than eight million patients since 1997 that is very worrying. I think people who have relatives in care homes will be very concerned.”
Alzheimer Research Trust chief executive Rebecca Wood said the North had been chosen for the study because it was a centre of excellence in research into dementia.
She said: “The findings of this study are quite shocking and underline the need for increased funding into researching the effects of these drugs on patients.
“Studies into Alzheimer’s and dementia is severely underfunded.”
AstraZeneca said last night: “The company remains confident in Seroquel’s safety and efficacy profile, with more than eight million patients treated since its launch in 1997.
“The results of this study are based on a very small sample size and are inconsistent with previous studies. Out of the study total, only 46 patients had cognitive assessment at six weeks and only 14 of these were on Seroquel.
“One patient in the Seroquel arm of the study had an unusually large negative change in cognitive assessment, two of the placebo patients and two of the rivastigmine patients had unusually large improvements. These patients disproportionately influenced the results of this small study.
“A study on 333 patients in July 2004 showed Seroquel to be effective in reducing agitation and not associated with cognitive decline in elderly patients.”
Tags: Alzheimer Drug, AstraZeneca, Seroquel