UK Researchers Develop Promising New Alzheimer’s Drug
British researchers have developed a new drug against Alzheimer’s disease they say has shown promise in tests on a handful of patients, Reuters reported.
The small molecule drug (called CPHPC) caused the disappearance of a protein called serum amyloid P component (SAP), thought to be involved in the disease, from the brains of five Alzheimer’s patients who took it for three months, according researchers from the University College London.
The team said SAP is always present in both the sticky clumps (plaques) and the tangles of nerve fibers found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, and are thought to damage healthy cells.
The drug also appears to prevent both structures from breaking up and has shown in lab experiments to promote formation of the amyloid protein that forms the damaging plaques.
“The complete disappearance of SAP from the brain during treatment with CPCH could not have been confidently predicted, and the drug, also to our surprise, entered the brain,” said lead researcher Professor Mark Pepys.
"Coupled with the absence of any side effects, these new findings strongly support further clinical studies to see whether longer term treatment with CPHPC protects against the inexorable mental decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease," he said.
The research, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, was partially funded by Britain’s Alzheimer’s Research Trust.
It said that results from the drug were cause for "cautious optimism," but it was too soon to know for sure if removing SAP from the brain would provide clinical benefit.
The team is already planning larger scale clinical studies to test its effectiveness.
Trust Chief Executive Rebecca Wood said new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease are desperately needed.
“It’s possible that this small molecule could be a future candidate," she said.
New medicines for Alzheimer’s patients are seen as a major untapped opportunity for the pharmaceutical industry, given the world’s aging population and the lack of an effective treatment.
However, researchers have tried and failed for years to produce an effective treatment.
Bapineuzumab, from Elan and Wyeth, which is now being acquired by Pfizer, is among the furthest advanced experimental drugs for Alzheimer’s.
However, it produced disappointing results in clinical trials last summer.
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