Efficacy and pharmacogenomics of donepezil

Abstract

With the aging of society, dementia has become a more and more serious social problem. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a major cause of dementia, and there is no drug to reverse the disease progression. Donepezil is the main drug currently in symptomatic treatment. However, the efficacy of donepezil was moderate, with the patient variably responding to the treatment with donepezil. The commonest adverse events in the treatment were nausea, vomiting and diarrhea; QT prolongation rarely occurred. Many patients gave up treatment because of adverse events or lack of efficacy. Pharmacogenomics is developed on the basis of pharmacogenetics, by studying the polymorphisms in genes involved in drug metabolic enzymes, transporter and drug receptor, to guide individualized treatment. In terms of the pharmacogenomics on the efficacy of donepezil, there is no clear conclusion except CYP2D6 genotype affecting drug clearance.

Keywords

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) / donepezil / pharmacogenomics