Therapeutic advances: donepezil for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Until recently, few drugs have been available for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The first such drug to be launched in the U.K. was the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, donepezil. The limited published data on donepezil shows only modest cognitive benefit in patients with Alzheimer's disease. The cost of diagnosis and drug treatment, the distressing nature of the disease and the limited evidence available, pose difficult decisions for the introduction of new drugs and the management of this condition.