Galantamine
Prescription acetylcholinesterase inhibitor for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer-type dementia. It produces modest symptomatic benefits in cognition and function but is not disease-modifying and is not supported for mild cognitive impairment. Exposure varies with formulation, food, age, renal and hepatic function, CYP2D6 phenotype, and CYP2D6/CYP3A4 inhibitors. Slow titration improves gastrointestinal tolerability.
Projected serum levels — 16 mg, once daily
Maintenance schedule: 16 mg once daily (oral).
Modeled steady state after ~1 days: peak ≈ 10.3 mg, trough ≈ 2.0 mg body load. Population-based estimate over 15 days for a 16 mg dose at a 70 kg reference body mass — the interactive app scales curves to your doses, timing, and body mass.
Key facts
- Category
- Cholinergic
- Route modeled
- Oral
- Model confidence
- inferred
- Half-life
- 7 h
- Common dose
- 16 mg
- Suggested maximum
- 32 mg/day
- Reference dose range
- 8–32 mg (single dose)
- Suggested cadence
- once daily
Research behind this entry
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Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of galantamine in humans
The prescribing information reports linear kinetics from 8-32 mg/day, approximately 90% absolute bioavailability, 175 L distribution volume, 18% plasma protein binding, and a terminal half-life near seven hours. Renal…
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Galantamine for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment
Updated systematic review found modest six-month cognitive, functional, global, and behavioral benefit at 16-24 mg/day in Alzheimer dementia, alongside more gastrointestinal adverse events and discontinuations. It found…
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A 5-month, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of galantamine in AD
Multicenter double-blind trial randomized 978 people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease. At five months, 16 and 24 mg/day improved ADAS-cog by 3.3 and 3.6 points versus placebo and also improved global, functional,…
3 published studies referenced in the app, each with a plain-language summary.