Healthy living

Medicines and supplements

Can this drug stop Alzheimer's in its tracks?

Researcher

In an early trial, rember, the first drug to target the brain tangles discovered by Alois Alzheimer over a century ago, appears to halt progression of mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease

The biggest breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease for a hundred years was announced at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2008) in Chicago.

Scientists from the University of Aberdeen, together with colleagues from TauRx Therapeutics, targeted the Tau tangles which, along with amyloid brain plaques, characterise the degenerative brain disease. The tangles destroy nerve cells and damage memory as the disease progresses.

Patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's who took rember experienced vastly less cognitive decline than would have been expected, offering hope that the drug may one day be used to halt the disease at an early stage in its development.

TauRx Therapeutics, the University of Aberdeen's spin-out company, gave doses of 30 mg, 60 mg and 100 mg of rember or a placebo to a group of 321 patients with mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease in the UK and Singapore.

The decline seen in patients treated with rember was not significantly different from their starting score to the assessment at one year and at their final assessment at 19 months. In addition to cognitive testing, patients had repeat brain scans at the start of the study and after 25 weeks.

The most effective dose was found to be 60 mg, with patients experiencing an 81 per cent reduction in cognitive decline over one year, and also not experiencing a significant decline in their mental function over 19 months.

These showed that the treatment effect was greatest in areas of the brain associated with memory, where the density of Alzheimer tangles is greatest. In the control group, who received the placebo, there was a significant decline from the starting score in cognitive testing and on brain scans. Rember is based on an earlier drug called methylthioninium chloride.

Professor Claude Wischik, Professor of Psychiatric Geratology and Old Age Psychiatry at the University of Aberdeen's Institute of Medical Sciences and Chairman of TauRx Therapeutics, who led the research, said: "This is an unprecedented result in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. We have demonstrated for the first time that it may possible to arrest the progression of this disease by targeting the tangles which are highly correlated with the disease."

Following these results from this early (Phase 2) clinical trial, TauRx is now planning a Phase 3 trial which should begin next year. If this confirms the Phase 2 findings, the drug could be available by 2012, subject to funding recommendations by NICE.

Tangles destroy nerve cells in parts of the brain critical for memory in people in their fifties and upwards. The ultimate goal is to develop a treatment that could be widely used at the very earliest stages of the disease, long before patients experience the first symptoms of Alzheimer's.

'With the world population ageing globally and the enormous burden on health services and economies worldwide, we urgently need to confirm our findings in a larger trial with a view to making this treatment available as soon as possible," commented Professor Wischik. 'World Health Organisation (WHO) figures indicate that there will be more than one billion people aged 65 and over by 2050, of whom we calculate about half will have tau tangles in their brains. This makes it particularly important to develop new treatments to halt and prevent tangles forming in the brain.'

Prof Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, welcomed the findings but added a note of caution, saying, 'This is a major new development in the fight against dementia. It is the first realistic evidence that a new drug can slow cognition decline in people with Alzheimer's, by targeting the protein tangles that cause brain cell death.

'This first modestly sized trial in humans is potentially exciting. It suggests the drug could be over twice as effective as any treatment that is currently available.

'However we are not there yet. Larger scale trials are now needed to confirm the safety of this drug and establish how far it could benefit the thousands of people living with this devastating disease.

Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said, 'This is an encouraging development in the fight against a devastating disease. In this exploratory trial, rember reduced the decline in blood flow to parts of the brain that are important for memory. This bodes well for a Phase III trial, but we need more human trials to assess the treatment’s possible side-effects.'

More on Alzheimer's disease
By: Melody Rousseau

Back to top

Information on this site is for interest only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should consult your own doctor about any specific health concerns.

Back to top

 

The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by Saga unless specifically stated.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal, medical or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.