Aricept

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From

• 10 Tips for Senior Health
• Caring for Someone With Alzheimer's
• Cancer Treatment: What to Expect

• 13 Best Quit-Smoking Tips Ever
• What Stress Does to Your Mouth
• Healthy Home: To Buy or Not to Buy Organic?

• Frequent Constipation?
• Greater Food Accessibility

Aricept is a prescription medication used to treat Alzheimer's disease. Aricept belongs to a group of drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors. This medication works by stopping a specific enzyme from breaking down acetylcholine in the brain. Acetylcholine is important in many brain functions, including memory, attention, reason, and language.

Aricept may cause serious side effects. See "Drug Precautions" section.

The most common side effects of Aricept are:

• nausea
• diarrhea
• not sleeping well
• vomiting
• muscle cramps
• feeling tired
• not wanting to eat

These side effects may get better after the patient takes Aricept for a while. This is not a complete list of side effects with Aricept. For more information, ask the doctor or pharmacist.

Tell the doctor about all of your medical conditions including:

• irregular, slow or fast heartbeat or other heart problems
• asthma or breathing problems
• seizures
• difficulty passing urine
• liver or kidney problems
• trouble swallowing tablets
• if you are pregnant or breastfeeding
• if you have or have had stomach ulcers

Tell your doctor about all of the medicines you are currently taking or plan to take including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal products. Because Aricept may cause side effects when taken with certain medicines used for anesthesia, tell your doctor or dentist that you are taking Aricept if you:

• will have surgery or medical procedures
• will have dental surgery or procedures

It is not known whether Aricept is excreted into human breast milk or if it will harm a nursing child.

Pregnancy category: C

Lactation: Excretion in breast milk unknown, use caution

Pregnancy Categories

A:Generally acceptable. Controlled studies in pregnant women show no evidence of fetal risk.

B:May be acceptable. Either animal studies show no risk but human studies not available or animal studies showed minor risks and human studies done and showed no risk.

C:Use with caution if benefits outweigh risks. Animal studies show risk and human studies not available or neither animal nor human studies done.

D:Use in LIFE-THREATENING emergencies when no safer drug available. Positive evidence of human fetal risk.

X:Do not use in pregnancy. Risks involved outweigh potential benefits. Safer alternatives exist.

NA:Information not available.

Administration

Oral Administration

Administer conventional or orally disintegrating tablets orally once daily, usually at bedtime.1 2

Administer with or without food.1 2

Orally disintegrating tablets: Place on tongue and allow to dissolve; follow with water.1

Donepezil hydrochloride orally disintegrating and conventional film-coated tablets are bioequivalent.1

Dosage

Available as donepezil hydrochloride; dosage expressed in terms of the salt.1

Adults

Initially, 5 mg daily.1 6 11

Some data suggest the possibility of additional benefit with higher (10 mg daily) dosage in some patients;1 2 6 12 however, additional benefit with the 10-mg dosage has not been demonstrated in controlled clinical studies.1 2 12 Adverse cholinergic effects are more likely with the 10-mg dosage.1 2

Daily administration of 10 mg should not be considered until patient has received 5 mg daily for 4–6 weeks, since occurrence of adverse effects may be influenced by the rate of increase in dosage.1 2 11

Special Populations

Hepatic Impairment

No specific recommendation for dosage adjustment.1

• Precise mechanism(s) of action in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type not fully elucidated.1 Binds reversibly with and inactivates cholinesterases (e.g., acetylcholinesterase), thus inhibiting hydrolysis of acetylcholine1 3 6 7 10 11 12 15 and resulting in increased acetylcholine concentrations at cholinergic synapses.1 6

In the U.S.

• Aricept

Available Dosage Forms:

• Tablet, Disintegrating
• Tablet

Therapeutic Class: Central Nervous System Agent

Pharmacologic Class: Cholinesterase Inhibitor, Centrally Acting

The dose of this medicine will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor's orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of this medicine. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so.

The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine.

• For oral dosage forms (oral disintegrating tablets, oral solution, and tablets):
  • For mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease:
    • Adults—5 milligrams (mg) taken at bedtime. Your doctor may increase your dose as needed. However, the dose usually is not more than 10 mg per day.
    • Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.
  • For moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease:
    • Adults—10 milligrams (mg) taken at bedtime. Your doctor may increase your dose as needed. However, the dose usually is not more than 23 mg per day.
    • Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.

Donepezil improves the function of nerve cells in the brain. It works by preventing the breakdown of a chemical called acetylcholine (ah SEET il KOE leen). People with dementia usually have lower levels of this chemical, which is important for the processes of memory, thinking, and reasoning.

Donepezil is used to treat mild to moderate dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease.

Donepezil is not a cure for Alzheimer's disease. This condition will progress over time, even in people who take donepezil.

Donepezil may also be used for other purposes not listed in this medication guide.