A drug that fights mild to severe Alzheimer's disease has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for liquid oral forms.

Forest Laboratories, Inc. announces Friday that an oral solution formulation of Namend (memantine HCl), is now available to physicians, patients, and pharmacies nationwide. Oral solution offers an alternative that may make the ingestion of Namenda easier for those patients who have trouble swallowing tablets.

Namenda is the first in a class of medications approved by the FDA with a unique mechanism of action that focuses on the glutamate pathway, a target for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.