Estate Planning

EXELON PATCH

By Hull and Hull LLP

With dementia on the rise and as our society continues to age, many pharmaceutical companies are taking aim at inventing a drug that will reduce if not cure dementia all together.

One such company, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc., sold the Exelon patch, which essentially is a transdermal patch which is used to treat mild to moderate symptoms of dementia.

The popularity of the drug has been on the increase recently with nearly 18,500 prescriptions for the patch being dispensed in Canada in 2008 and in 2009 that number increased to nearly 65,000. What I found particularly interesting about this drug was the side effects associated with it. Novartis Pharmaceuticals has reported on its website that possible side effects of the patch could include nausea, vomiting, hallucinations and problems with heart rhythm. 

The Exelon patch was reported as a drug that would reduce the effects of Alzheimer's. However, recently Health Canada has issued a warning about Exelon as there have been reported misuses of the patch in Canada. The misuses of the patch could pose a risk of overdose, leading to nausea, hypertension, slowed heart rate or death. 

Those of us with loved ones who suffer from dementia and Alzheimer's can only look on with hope that there will one day be a cure.

Rick Bickhram

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on June 15, 2010 (boomark / email).