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Jul 1, 2008 5:38 pm US/Eastern
New Drug Offers Hope For Alzheimer's Victims
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Elan and Wyeth's key new drug bapineuzumab worked for a substantial proportion of Alzheimer's disease patients in an intermediate clinical trial.
KDKA
As many as five-million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies or social life. Alzheimer's gets worse over time, and it is fatal: it is now the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. Bapineuzumab has been touted by its developers as potentially the first Alzheimer's drug to slow progression of the disease, rather than just treat symptoms.
In a recent study, released in mid-June, half of the 240 Alzheimer's patients were given the
drug while the other half were given a placebo and the researchers say although the
drug did not reach statistical goals it did prove to be relatively effective when given to patients diagnosed with the degenerative brain disorder.
The interim
results showed that patients given the
new drug showed less loss of brain volume among treated patients compared with those given a placebo.
Bonnie Lowe is 89 years old and suffers from Alzheimer's, which is beginning to take a toll on her memory.
She's taking a shot on the experimental medication, which is basically an Alzheimer's vaccine.
Currently, the only way to treat Alzheimer's is by using memory boosting medications. Unfortunately, the drugs don't do anything to correct the underlying cause of the disease. That's what this new vaccine type therapy hopes to do. Dr. Bruce Kohrman is a neurologist studying the drug at Miami Research Associates.
"It's a whole new world of treatment," Dr. Kohrman said, "It is a whole new avenue of treatment."
Dr. Kohrman and his team are conducting a much larger Phase-III study, and enrolling more patients.
The drug is a partnership between Irish drugmaker Elan and its U.S. partner Wyeth.
To find out more about Alzheimer's Vaccine Clinical Trials in South Florida, please contact
Miami Research Associates at 6141 Sunset Drive, Suite 301 in South Miami, phone (305) 665-5151.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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