Thursday, July 31, 2008

185 drug to HALT Alzheimer's may be available by 2012

Way too late to help my dad, and the parents and loved ones of those currently suffering. But it will help the next generation. (Emphasis mine.)
Daily pill that halts Alzheimer's is hailed as 'biggest breakthrough against disease for 100 years'
A daily capsule of rember, as the drug is known, stops Alzheimer’s disease progressing by as much as 81 per cent, according to trial results. Patients with the brain disorder had no significant decline in their mental function over a 19-month period....
It is the first time medication has been developed to target the ‘tangles’ in the brain that destroy nerve cells, leading to deteriorating memory.
The drug helps to disrupt this process, preventing the formation of new tangles and loosening those already created.
...Eventually the drug could be used to stop the disease in its early stages before symptoms have even appeared, it is hoped....The drug works by dissolving the tangle of tau fibres which releases waste products that kill nerve cells, and by preventing the fibres from becoming tangled.....The trial was a Phase 2 study, which checks the safety and efficacy of the drug, but if a large-scale Phase 3 trial due next year repeats the findings, the drug could be available for prescribing by 2012. At the same time, the research team is investigating a way of diagnosing Alzheimer’s at its earliest stages when tau tangles are first being formed in the brain.
People may have these tangles in their 50s, long before symptoms develop, and the researchers hope the drug could be used as a preventive treatment.
I'm not even sure what I could say to comment on this. I hope it's true. By 2012 I'll be well on my way to being 50 and my dad was diagnosed at 62--meaning he probably had his tangles way before that. I honestly believe he had the beginning stages of AD when he was around 55--would that be tangles in his 40's?
I hate living in fear.
And of course, the article was about Great Britain's availability. Are they even looking at approval for the US yet? I'll have to look into it more.
(screenprint)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find this interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

So at last we got the path for curing Alzheimer's and it will happen by the year 2012,by using those helpful drugs.

Anonymous said...

Too late for my mom, but definitely something I hope proves an effective way to prevent AD as the baby boomers and the rest of us age.

Anonymous said...

They are already curing Alzheimer's around the world with negative ion therapy (magnectic wrist bracelets), monoautomic gold and tachyon technology.