The COBALT trial (COmBining memantine And cholinesterase inhibitors in Lewy body dementia Treatment) is a clinical trial which aims to find out if adding memantine to a cholinesterase inhibitor (either donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine) improves overall health and functioning for people with Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) or Parkinson’s Disease Dementia (PDD).
Memantine is a prescription drug used to treat moderate to severe confusion in Alzheimer’s disease and may help to improve memory, awareness, and the ability to perform daily functions. It is not clear if taking Memantine at the same time as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor will help people with DLB or PDD. The safety and side effects of memantine are well known and it is widely used in the NHS.
The study is recruiting participants with PDD or DLB and randomly assigning them to either a treatment group or a placebo group. The treatment group will receive memantine in the form of a pill, while the placebo group will receive an identical pill that that does not contain memantine.
Participants will attend at least three in person appointments; a first appointment, with follow up appointments 6 and 12 months after this. During these appointments, participants will also be asked to complete questionnaires about symptoms, quality of life and financial impact. Their trial partner, who will be someone who knows them well, will also complete questionnaires about the participant and about how they think they are feeling. There will be four more telephone appointments and an optional follow up call.
This is taking place in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian.
The trial is managed by Newcastle Clinical Trials Unit.
Further information
You can find further information about the COBALT trial at the following external websites:
