Background: Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) is a plasma-derived product that is used to treat a wide variety of disorders. Over the past few years, IVIG has been studied to determine its efficacy in the treatment of patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease. The objective of this study was to identify current use and dosing of IVIG for Alzheimer's disease. Methods: Pharmacy claims for IVIG (Gammagard Liquid and Gammagard S/D, Baxter Healthcare Corporation) were extracted from a homecare company dataset for the year 2006. Only claims associated with a diagnosis for Alzheimer's disease were selected. The following information was available: patients' age and weight, dose dispensed, frequency of administration and diagnosis. Dose per claim (in mg/kg) and frequency of administration were examined across the patients included in the sample. Descriptive statistics were utilized in this analysis. Results: The database included 104 IVIG claims from 24 patients with Alzheimer's disease. IVIG was prescribed to these patients by 6 physicians from different states across the US. Average patient age was 74 years (range: 59 to 83 years) and average weight was 67kg (range: 44 to 85kg). In terms of frequency of administration, 20 patients received IVIG every two weeks and 4 patients received IVIG every month. The total amount received per dose varied between 19g and 35g (mean = 28.5g) and the dose in mg/kg ranged between 360 and 553 (mean = 430mg/kg). Conclusions: This database analysis demonstrated that IVIG is currently used in clinical practice in patients with Alzheimer's disease and provided insight into commonly used doses in this patient population.
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