Aurobindo Pharma Ltd has received tentative nod from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for 5 mg and 10 mg Donepezil Hydrochloride tablets. Donepezil Hydrochloride Tablets 5 mg and 10 mg is generic equivalent of Aricept tablets 5 mg and 10 mg of Eisai Medical Research and are indicated for the treatment of mild, moderate and severe demetia of Alzheimer’s type and fall under the central nervous system (CNS) therapeutic segment. The product had a market size of approximately $1.90 billion for the twelve month ending Dec 2008.

A research conducted on a large patient population in the U.S. have shown that the use of the anti-inflammatory and painkiller ibuprofen is linked to lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. According to the researchers, patients who took the drug for over 5 years were 40% less likely to develop the disease compared with patients who did not use that type of drug at all.