A look at the 4 drugs on the market for treating symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease

Current drugs for symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease

Here are the four Alzheimer’s drugs already on the market, along with their dosage forms, chemical name, manufacturer and 2009 sales:

— Aricept: tablets; donepecil; Pfizer Inc.; $432 million (partner Esai Inc. got about $3.3 billion in revenue)

— Namenda: tablets or liquid; memantine; Forest Laboratories Inc.; $1.06 billion

— Exelon: patch, liquid or capsules; rivastigmine; Novartis AG; $954 million

— Razadyne: tablets, capsules or liquid; galantamine; Johnson & Johnson; $415 million

Sources: Physicians’ Desk Reference, the companies