VICTORIANS with Alzheimer’s disease are the first in the world to receive a new drug aiming to revolutionise treatment of the most common form of dementia.

Unlike other medications, the pill is the only drug designed to relieve symptoms and slow the progression of the disease.

One Australian is diagnosed every six minutes with Alzheimer’s disease, with cases expected to balloon as the population ages.

Alfred Health was selected by the overseas drug company to lead the first trial of Anavex 2-73 on patients with the disease, giving Victorians exclusive access.

Trial leader, director of Aged Psychiatry at Caulfield Hospital, Associate Professor Steve Macfarlane said the global race to find better treatments meant the phase 2 trial would be fast-tracked and results would be known within a year.

If successful, a second trial would make the drug available to thousands of patients, and it could be on the market in three years.

“It’s a great opportunity for Victorian patients, particularly given it’s such a novel drug with the potential to modify the course of the disease and give symptomatic treatment,” Prof Macfarlane said.

So far, Alzheimer’s disease drugs have only been able to improve symptoms, but have not stopped long-term deterioration in their health.

There are a number of disease-modifying drugs in development, but they only slow the course of the disease without improving symptoms.

Prof Macfarlane said Anavex 2-73 aims to do both by protecting the brain, helping nerve cells live longer and assisting with the removal of amyloid plaque, which builds up in the brains of those with the disease.

The drug works by stimulating the sigma receptor on the cell, which triggers the body to clear up excess proteins, such as amyloid plaque.

It hopes to boost memory by making available cognitive enhancers more powerful.

Anavex 2-73 has been trialled in the lab, on animals and on healthy volunteers, but this month it was administered to the first patient with the disease. Melbourne man Malcolm Baker, 73, is part of the trial, where every patient gets the active drug, and he hopes it will improve his long-term outcome.

Alzheimer’s Australia Victoria research fellow Dr Maree Farrow said while the trial was promising, it was small and would take several years to establish the drug’s effectiveness or otherwise.

More than 30 patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease taking cognitive enhancer Aricept are needed for the trial.

For information, email adclinicaltrials@cgmc.org.au

lucie.vandenberg@news.com.au

Twitter: @Lucie_VDB