New Study Data in December 9th New England Journal of Medicine Shows Medication May Help Parkinson’s Disease Patients With Dementia

NEW YORK, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire/ — NEWS: NEJM Study Shows Exelon(R) May Help Parkinson’s Disease Patients Who Suffer from Dementia.

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STORY SUMMARY

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive disease of the nervous system that affects up to 1.5 million Americans. And as many as 40 percent of those who suffer from Parkinson’s also experience some degree of dementia. Now, for the first time, results of a large-scale study published in the New England Journal of Medicine show a medication called Exelon(R) (rivastigmine tartate) provided important benefits in symptoms of dementia in patients with Parkinson’s disease. The study analyzed 541 Parkinson’s patients with dementia and found that over the 24-week period, the patients treated with Exelon had better overall functioning, and showed improvements in cognition and behavior.

SOUNDBITES:

* Abraham Lieberman, MD, Medical Director, National Parkinson Foundation

* Jeffrey Cummings, MD, Professor of Neurology, UCLA

* Beverly Bernstein, wife of Jerry Bernstein, a Parkinson’s disease

patient with dementia

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