WARNING ABOUT ALZHEIMER'S TREATMENT

May 19, 2011

Here’s an important alert for Alzheimer’s disease patients and their caregivers.

The 23 milligram (mg) dose of Aricept (generic name: donepezil) is minimally effective and is unsafe to use.

This pill should never have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The experts at WorstPills.org recommend that patients not use Aricept.

Public Citizen, the publisher of WorstPills.org, petitioned the FDA yesterday to ban the medication at the highest dose.

Even at lower doses, Aricept is a DO NOT USE drug on WorstPills.org because of its poor efficacy. The 23 mg dose provides no increase in efficacy over the lower doses but increases side effects substantially.

Increased side effects of the 23 mg dose of Aricept compared to the 10 mg dose include a slower pulse rate, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, urinary incontinence, fatigue, dizziness, agitation, confusion and anorexia.

Despite these dangers and the lack of proven increased efficacy, the FDA recklessly approved the 23 mg dose in July 2010 over the objections of its medical and statistical reviewers.

What You Should Do

Do not use Aricept.

Unfortunately, we cannot recommend an alternative to Aricept because at this time there are no safe and effective treatments that substantially alter the progression or the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

View our Aricept section on WorstPills.org for comprehensive information on the drug’s side effects, our research into its safety and our work to remove the higher dose of medication from the market.

Do not discontinue use of any medication without consulting your doctor first.