Lack of adverse pharmacodynamic drug interactions with rivastigmine and twenty-two classes of medications

✍ Scribed by George T. Grossberg; Hannes B. Stahelin; John C. Messina; Ravi Anand; Jeffrey Veach

• Book ID: 101282772
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 93 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(200003)15:3<242::aid-gps110>3.0.co;2-7

✦ Synopsis

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is often associated with multiple comorbidities and subsequent polypharmacy. Treatment of AD with acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors can carry a risk of drug interaction with multiple medications often prescribed for other co-existing illnesses. Rivastigmine is an AChE inhibitor that is enzymatically cleaved by AChE, minimally metabolized by cytochrome P450 enzymes, has low protein binding, has a short plasma halflife, and a relatively short duration of action. Such properties make it ideal for use in this patient population. A pharmacodynamic analysis of rivastigmine administered concomitantly with other medications (22 dierent therapeutic classes) did not reveal any signi®cant pattern of increase in adverse events that would indicate a drug interaction. In summary, rivastigmine was well tolerated and safely administered to a population receiving multiple medications for `real-world' comorbidities.