Dr. Willmar Schwabe Pharmaceuticals Release: New Hope In The Fight Against Alzheimer’s: Clinical Study Finds Ginkgo Extract EGb 761(R) Improves Quality Of Life Of Typical Patients

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- A major new study provides good news in the fight against Alzheimer’s, as Ginkgo biloba extract EGb 761(R) (manufactured by the Dr. Willmar Schwabe Company) has been shown to improve cognitive functions, neuropsychiatric symptoms and the ability to perform daily living activities among typical patients. Results of the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial were presented at the 21st International Conference of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI).(1)

“This study shows EGb 761(R) is effective in typical Alzheimer’s cases,” says Professor A. Napreyenko, principal investigator of the study. “In patients exhibiting the full range of cognitive and non-cognitive features of dementia, EGb 761(R) improves cognitive functioning as well as neuropsychiatric symptoms and activities of daily living.”

395 outpatients with mild to moderate dementia and neuropsychiatric symptoms (such as depressed mood, anxiety, irritability and indifference) participated in the study. Patients with these symptoms represent the overwhelming majority of Alzheimer’s cases in clinical practice. Patients received either 240 mg of EGb 761(R) or placebo daily. The primary outcome measure in the cognitive domain was the SKT test battery, an internationally validated rating scale for dementia. In the neuropsychiatric domain the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) were applied.

After 22 weeks, patients given EGb 761(R) showed clear improvement and a highly significant difference of 4.5 points compared to those receiving placebo (p < 0.001, 2-sample t-test). Similar statistically significant improvements were found for the EGb 761(R) group on all secondary outcome measures. EGb 761(R) was also well tolerated.

Positive results of this study confirm earlier findings, including the breakthrough twelve-month U.S. trial by Le Bars et al published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, 1997), in which EGb 761(R) was shown to stabilize, and in some cases improve, the cognitive performance and social functioning of Alzheimer’s patients.(2)

EGb 761(R) is a patented Ginkgo biloba extract with a unique profile of constituents developed and manufactured by the Dr. Willmar Schwabe Company, Karlsruhe, Germany. It is sold in the U.S. under the Ginkgold(R) brand name. EGb 761(R) is recognized worldwide as the best researched phytomedicine.

(1) Napreyenko A, Ihl R, Schlaefke S, Hoerr R. Ginkgo biloba Extract EGb 761(R) in the Treatment of Dementia with Neuropsychiatric Features: A Randomized, Placebo-controlled, Double-blind Trial. Poster presentation at the 21st International Conference of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) in Istanbul, Turkey, September 2005. (2) Le Bars PL, Katz MM, Berman N, Itil TM, Freedman AM, Schatzberg AF. A Placebo-controlled, Double-blind, Randomized Trial of an Extract of Ginkgo biloba for Dementia. JAMA 1997, 278(16):1327-32.

Dr. Willmar Schwabe Pharmaceuticals

CONTACT: Stewart Brennan, +1-801-376-3734, newswire@att.net, for Dr.Willmar Schwabe Pharmaceuticals

MORE ON THIS TOPIC