The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7340 p292
12 March 2005

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Quetiapine benefit in Alzheimer’s

The antipsychotic drug quetiapine (Seroquel; AstraZeneca) may benefit patients with Alzheimer’s disease according to new data from AstraZeneca.

In a post-hoc sub group analysis of 260 patients in the STAR study, the company says that patients with Alzheimer’s disease randomised to receive quetiapine 200mg/day for 10 weeks experienced reduced agitation and were rated as being “much improved” or “very much improved” on scales designed to measure hostility, tension and excitement compared with placebo (54 per cent versus 26 per cent, P=<0.01).

The data were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry in San Diego last week.