Alzheimer’s drug shows staying power

Since its U.S. approval in 2003, the drug memantine has been prescribed to slow mental decline in people with moderate-to-advanced Alzheimer’s disease. But studies hadn’t addressed the drug’s long-term effectiveness.

Researchers report in the January Archives of Neurology that 66 people taking memantine for Alzheimer’s disease continued to benefit for a year, the longest test of the drug to date, says coauthor Barry Reisberg, a geriatric psychiatrist at New York University School of Medicine.