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Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that destroys a person's memory and ability to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate and carry out daily activities. Individuals may experience changes in personality and behavior such as anxiety, suspiciousness or agitation as well as delusions or hallucinations. More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease. Researchers expect that number to triple by the year 2050.
Many researchers believe Alzheimer's disease is caused by amyloid plaques and tangles that accumulate in the brain and damage healthy neurons. A specific enzyme -- called gamma secretase -- is responsible for cutting up beta-amyloid proteins into small pieces. Those proteins eventually form the dangerous plaques. Many researchers believe if they can stop gamma secretase from cutting up the proteins, they can stop the plaques from forming and, thus, stop the disease from progressing.
Currently, there are four drugs approved by the FDA to treat Alzheimer's disease. The problem is these drugs only focus on slowing the symptoms of the disease and do not slow the progress.
"The symptoms ultimately catch up with the progress of the disease ... So, right now, we have symptomatic treatments, but what we need are treatments to stop the disease and prevent it," Dr. Adam Fleisher said.
Researchers are now studying a drug that they believe actually targets the cause of Alzheimer's. The drug, LY450139, is given once a day in pill form. It works by stopping the gamma secretase enzyme from cutting up beta-amyloid proteins. It's something researchers have been working on creating for a long time.
"This has the potential to stop the underlying pathology and stop the progression of the disease, or even to prevent the onset of dementia if we can catch it early enough with a drug like this," Fleisher said.
In preliminary studies, the drug decreased the amount of bad plaque in the blood by 38-percent. Fleisher says reductions of plaque in spinal fluid were also observed.
"It could very well be the first drug to market that actually changes the progress of the disease. It could potentially stop the progress of dementia, so if you take this drug, your dementia doesn't progress anymore," Fleisher said.
Researchers have just completed phase II of the study and are currently in the process of analyzing the results. The next step is a larger, longer clinical trial that will look at the effects of the drug more carefully. This study was conducted at six sites around the country.
http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=182332&SecID=2
Many researchers believe Alzheimer's disease is caused by amyloid plaques and tangles that accumulate in the brain and damage healthy neurons. A specific enzyme -- called gamma secretase -- is responsible for cutting up beta-amyloid proteins into small pieces. Those proteins eventually form the dangerous plaques. Many researchers believe if they can stop gamma secretase from cutting up the proteins, they can stop the plaques from forming and, thus, stop the disease from progressing.
Currently, there are four drugs approved by the FDA to treat Alzheimer's disease. The problem is these drugs only focus on slowing the symptoms of the disease and do not slow the progress.
"The symptoms ultimately catch up with the progress of the disease ... So, right now, we have symptomatic treatments, but what we need are treatments to stop the disease and prevent it," Dr. Adam Fleisher said.
Researchers are now studying a drug that they believe actually targets the cause of Alzheimer's. The drug, LY450139, is given once a day in pill form. It works by stopping the gamma secretase enzyme from cutting up beta-amyloid proteins. It's something researchers have been working on creating for a long time.
"This has the potential to stop the underlying pathology and stop the progression of the disease, or even to prevent the onset of dementia if we can catch it early enough with a drug like this," Fleisher said.
In preliminary studies, the drug decreased the amount of bad plaque in the blood by 38-percent. Fleisher says reductions of plaque in spinal fluid were also observed.
"It could very well be the first drug to market that actually changes the progress of the disease. It could potentially stop the progress of dementia, so if you take this drug, your dementia doesn't progress anymore," Fleisher said.
Researchers have just completed phase II of the study and are currently in the process of analyzing the results. The next step is a larger, longer clinical trial that will look at the effects of the drug more carefully. This study was conducted at six sites around the country.
http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=182332&SecID=2
