Namenda vs Aricept
The two mainstays of symptomatic Alzheimer's treatment, acting on different neurotransmitters and often prescribed together in moderate to severe disease.
At a glance
Key differences
- Different classes. Namenda is an NMDA receptor antagonist; Aricept is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. They act on different targets in the body.
- Time on the market. Namenda was first approved by the FDA in 2003, Aricept in 1996. That gives Aricept roughly 7 more years of real-world use and long-term safety data.
- Who markets them. Namenda is marketed by AbbVie; Aricept by Eisai.
- Same drug, more than one brand. Memantine is sold as Namenda / Ebixa — the same active ingredient marketed under different brand names, typically for different approved uses or doses.
What each one treats
An oral daily medication used to treat moderate to severe dementia of the Alzheimer's type.
ARICEPT is indicated for the treatment of dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. Efficacy has been demonstrated in patients with mild, moderate, and severe Alzheimer’s disease. ARICEPT is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. Efficacy has been demonstrated in patients with mild, moderate, and severe Alzheimer’s Disease ( 1 )
How each one works
An oral daily medication used to treat moderate to severe dementia of the Alzheimer's type.
12.1 Mechanism of Action Current theories on the pathogenesis of the cognitive signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease attribute some of them to a deficiency of cholinergic neurotransmission. Donepezil hydrochloride is postulated to exert its therapeutic effect by enhancing cholinergic function. This is accomplished by increasing the concentration of acetylcholine through reversible inhibition of its hydrolysis by acetylcholinesterase. There is no evidence that donepezil alters the course of the underlying dementing process.
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Which medicine is right for a given person depends on their diagnosis, other conditions, other medicines, kidney and liver function, pregnancy, and cost or reimbursement — none of which this page knows. Two drugs in the same class are not automatically interchangeable. Never start, stop or switch a prescription medicine on the basis of a web page; that decision belongs to you and your clinician or pharmacist.
How this page is built
The facts on this page are pulled directly from official U.S. FDA datasets — they are not written from memory. Each field below names the dataset it came from, so you can check it yourself.
- FDA Drug Label (openFDA) ↗ Indications, mechanism of action and pharmacologic class
- Drugs@FDA ↗ First FDA approval date and the company holding the application
- FDA Drug Shortage Database ↗ Current US supply / shortage status
Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 10 Oct 2026. How every register is built: methodology · fixes we have made: corrections log.