Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Offers Fresh Hope

In a remarkable medical breakthrough, Scottish research claim to have discovered a new drug which can stop the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The drug –Rember- can slow the patients’ cognitive decline by as much as 81 percent, thus, making it more than twice as effective as any treatment currently available.

The results of the study were presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD) 2008, in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday.

321 patients of mild-moderate Alzheimer’s disease from 17 centres across the UK and Singapore took part in the 84-week trail. Patients were randomly assigned to receive the drug - Rember (in either a 30, 60, or 100mg dose) or a placebo, three times a day for 24 weeks.

Once this was completed, patients then received a blinded treatment for a further 60 weeks.

Then, using cognitive tests and brain scans carried out at the beginning of the trial; after 24 weeks and up to 60 weeks later, the researchers monitored the effect on cognitive function of the patients.

Patients receiving a 60mg dose of the drug, Rember, reported a significantly improved cognition, researchers found. Moreover, the effect at 50 weeks was greater than that seen at 24 weeks, thereby, suggesting an improvement in the rate of cognitive decline.

As high as 81 percent cognitive decline was noticed over a period of one year, researchers highlighted.

Rember, also capable of stabilizing the progression of the disease, reduced the decline in blood flow in certain areas of the brain which are first and most severely affected by tau aggregates (the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex), brain imaging revealed.

By the end of the trial - at 84 weeks – patients receiving a 60mg dose experienced a significantly low cognitive decline compared the other participants from other groups.

The research led by Professor Claude Wischik, chairman of TauRx Therapeutics and Professor of Psychiatric Geratology and Old Age Psychiatry at the University of Aberdeen's Institute of Medical Sciences was carried out by teams from the University of Aberdeen and TauRx Therapeutics, a company based in Singapore.

Alzheimer’s, an increasingly common condition is typically characterized with memory loss, problems with speech and language, difficulty in planning and carrying out normal routine tasks and activities. Alzheimer patients also experience problems with recognition of people and things.