Alzheimer's treatment within reach after successful drug trial [View all]
Alzheimer's treatment within reach after successful drug trial
An Alzheimers drug has been shown to successfully target the most visible sign of the disease in the brain, raising hopes that an effective treatment could be finally within reach.
A small trial of the drug was primarily aimed at assessing safety, but the findings suggest it effectively switched off the production of toxic amyloid proteins that lead to the sticky plaques seen in the brains of Alzheimers patients.
If the tablet, produced by pharmaceutical giant Merck, is also shown to slow the pace of mental decline a crucial question that a major clinical trial should answer when it reports next year it could be the first treatment for Alzheimers to be licensed in more than a decade.
Prof John Hardy, a neuroscientist at UCL who first proposed that amyloid proteins play a central role in Alzheimers disease, welcomed the results. People are excited, he said. This is a very nice drug and Im sure Merck are feeling very pleased with themselves.
My mother died of Alzheimers. Everytime I forget anything, I find myself terrified that it's starting.