Evidence for the efficacy of latrepirdine (Dimebon) treatment for improvement of cognitive function: a meta-analysis

Over the last few years, latrepirdine, a démodé antihistamine drug, has been proposed to be useful for treating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases, and more recently schizophrenia. The mechanisms and pharmacological targets that are responsible for the beneficial effects on neurodegenerative diseases remain unknown. But it has been proposed that latrepirdine may modulate several targets including voltage-gate Ca+2 channels, mitochondrial permeability pore transition, or several neurotransmitter receptors. Herein, we present a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to ascertain the efficacy and safety of latrepirdine on cognitive function. By doing a search in electronic databases, we found five clinical trials in which the effect of latrepirdine on cognition function has been studied, and this was evaluated using MMSE, ADAS-cog, ADCS-ADL, and NPI scores. Latrepirdine generally presented a good safety profile; it was well tolerated when given alone or in combination with a variety of other drugs. We observed heterogeneous results between trials; latrepirdine failed to exert a significant beneficial effect although it tended to improve cognitive scores. The only significant benefit that we found was for the NPI score in Alzheimer's disease patients.