Scientists reveal a breakthrough treatment which slows Alzheimer's Disease
Last updated 30/07/2008 18:07:58
A major breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease has been revealed by scientists at a conference in Chicago, Illinois.
The Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease heard that pioneering research points to a new treatment that appears to slow the progress of the disorder by 81% over a year, and could offer hope to millions worldwide.
The product - remberTM - is the first drug to act on the tangles discovered by Alois Alzheimer over a century ago. A team at the University of Aberdeen, working with TauRx Therapeutics - a Singapore-based company spun out of the University - developed a novel treatment based on an entirely new approach which targets the tangles, aggregates of abnormal fibres of tau protein forming inside nerve cells in the brain.
These aggregates first destroy nerve cells critical for memory and then destroy neurons in other parts of the brain as the disease progresses. Patients receiving the study treatment experienced an 81% reduction in cognitive decline over one year, and did not experience a significant decline in their mental function over 19 months.
The TauRx brain imaging data also showed that the drug had its biggest effect in the memory critical parts of the brain where the tangle density is highest.