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2012 Drug Trials Edge Towards an Alzheimer’s Cure

BioWorld’s top 10 stories for 2012 included the puzzling outcome of some massive Alzheimer’s trials. Find out how we are more-sure-than-ever of what ought to work, while still unsure of the cure.


Alzheimer’s drug discovery found itself in a puzzling spot in 2012. Late-stage clinical trials in the indication continued to do what they have been doing for years – fail. This year added Eli Lilly and Co.’s candidate solanezumab, and Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson’s bapineuzumab, which originated with Elan Corp. plc, to the rubble heap.

At the same time, several research studies provided the strongest evidence yet that misprocessing of amyloid precursor protein or APP is indeed a cause of Alzheimer’s disease, not just its consequence. In other words, targeting plaques should work – but it doesn’t.

Ideas for how to translate what is understood about the basic science of Alzheimer’s disease into a working drug include starting treatment earlier, and interfering with the very earliest steps of APP processing in order to prevent the formation of oligomer intermediates as well as the plaques that have been the most common target of experimental therapeutics. But in 2012, that translation once again remained elusive.

Two steps forward are discussed in the following posts containing both videos & articles :


SOURCE: BioWorld

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wwl4bbc
wwl4bbc
December 30, 2012 2:11 pm

We`ve got to KEEP trying!

Unknown
Unknown
December 31, 2012 4:32 am

For over a decade the amyloid cascade has been questioned, not because amyloid is unimportant but rather the opposite because it plays a biological role. Amyloid production in all its forms, is a response to brain injury, and required as much as inflammatory mechanisms. While efforts to modulate amyloid may have therapeutic potential, the current focus of amyloid removal has been proven ineffective. Treating to remove amyloid earlier in disease progression or attacking amyloid oligomers is likely to suffer a similar fate. Understanding how the brain maintains normal function as we age will be essential to effective therapeutics that work with rather than against our biology.

B. Berger

B. Berger

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This site was inspired by my Mom’s autoimmune dementia.

It is a place where we separate out the wheat from the chaffe, the important articles & videos from each week’s river of news. With a new post on Alzheimer’s or dementia appearing on the internet every 7 minutes, the site’s focus on the best information has been a help to many over the past 15 years. Thanks to our many subscribers for your supportive feedback.

The site is dedicated to all those preserving the dignity of the community of people living with dementia.

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