The Exelon delivers the medicine for mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease patients through a skin patch instead of an oral capsule. This provides a great help to the patients who find it difficult to remember the exact dosage and timings of the medicine.
The Wall Street Journal quotes George Grossberg at St. Louis University in Missouri as saying: "The patch provides a visual reassurance for the caregiver that the patient is receiving their medication and helps the patient stay engaged in the activities of daily living."
More than 70 percent of the doctors and nurses prefer this patch method over the traditional method of drug delivery as it helps the patient follow the treatment in a better and assured way.
Exelon was first approved in 2000 in capsule form to treat Alzheimer's dementia and in 2006 to treat Parkinson's dementia. However, the medicine can cause gastrointestinal side effects.
But a study shows that using Exelon as a skin patch reduces the side effects.
More than five million people suffer from Alzheimer's disease in America. Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease which is caracterized by progressive cognitive deterioration, together with declining activities of daily living and by neuropsychiatric symptoms or behavioral changes. It is the most common type of dementia.
