JAMA Neurology

Agitation in Alzheimer dementia: How well does brexpiprazole work?

December 29, 2023

Patients on brexpiprazole showed significantly greater improvement in Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory scores than patients on placebo in this randomized trial of patients with Alzheimer dementia in community and facility settings. Over 12 weeks, brexpiprazole was generally tolerated well.

• This 12-week RCT randomized 345 patients with Alzheimer dementia, in either care facilities or community settings at multiple sites in the U.S. and Europe, to the atypical antipsychotic brexpiprazole at 2 or 3 mg or placebo. Outcomes were measured by changes in Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory. Patients could continue stable medications for Alzheimer Disease.
• Changes from baseline were greater with brexpiprazole (mean change from baseline, −22.6) compared with placebo (mean change from baseline, −17.3), with a p-value of  0.003 and a Cohen d effect size of 0.35.
• No treatment-emergent adverse events from brexpiprazole were detected with an incidence of 5% or greater and greater than placebo. Discontinuation due to adverse events was similar between active and placebo groups.

Source:

Lee, D. (2023, Nov. 6). JAMA Neurology. Brexpiprazole for the Treatment of Agitation in Alzheimer Dementia. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2811629