Daily pill that halts Alzheimer's is hailed as 'biggest breakthrough against disease for 100 years'



Breakthrough: The new drug reverses symptoms in 81% of patients

A new drug halts the devastating progress of Alzheimer’s disease, say British scientists.

It is said to be more than twice as effective as current treatments.

A daily capsule of rember, as the drug is known, stops Alzheimer’s disease progressing by as much as 81 per cent, according to trial results.

Patients with the brain disorder had no significant decline in their mental function over a 19-month period.

‘We appear to be bringing the worst affected parts of the brain functionally back to life,’ said Dr Claude Wischik, who led the research.

It is the first time medication has been developed to target the ‘tangles’ in the brain that destroy nerve cells, leading to deteriorating memory.

The drug helps to disrupt this process, preventing the formation of new tangles and loosening those already created.

Last night the findings were hailed as the biggest breakthrough in the battle against Alzheimer’s since 1907.

Eventually the drug could be used to stop the disease in its early stages before symptoms have even appeared, it is hoped.

It could be available to patients within four years although, in the wake of the NHS ban on the £2.50-a-day drug Aricept, there are concerns over whether it would be funded on the Health Service. The trial was carried out by a team at the University of Aberdeen, led by Professor Wischik, who 20 years ago discovered the ‘tau protein’ which makes up the tangles.

‘This is an unprecedented result in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease,’ he said.

‘We have demonstrated for the first time that it may be possible to arrest progression of the disease by targeting the tangles that are highly correlated with the disease. This is the most significant development in the treatment of the tangles since Alois Alzheimer discovered them in 1907.’

The research, presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s disease in Chicago, involved 321 people with mild and moderate Alzheimer’s disease in the UK and Singapore.

They were divided into four groups, three taking different doses of rember and a fourth group taking a placebo or dummy capsule.

After 50 weeks, those with both mild and moderate Alzheimer’s who were taking rember experienced 81 per cent less mental decline compared with those on the placebo.

Those taking rember did not experience any significant decline in their mental function over 19 months, while those on the placebo got worse.

The results suggest the drug is about two-and-a-half times more effective than existing drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors.

Images of the brain showed rember had its biggest effect in the parts linked to memory, where the density of tau tangles is greatest, with better blood flow to these areas.

The drug works by dissolving the tangle of tau fibres which releases waste products that kill nerve cells, and by preventing the fibres from becoming tangled.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Donald Mowat, who monitored the progress of patients, said they were more confident, better able to cope with daily life and not experiencing the level of mental decline they had expected.

The trial was a Phase 2 study, which checks the safety and efficacy of the drug, but if a large-scale Phase 3 trial due next year repeats the findings, the drug could be available for prescribing

by 2012. At the same time, the research team is investigating a way of diagnosing Alzheimer’s at its earliest stages when tau tangles are first being formed in the brain.

People may have these tangles in their 50s, long before symptoms develop, and the researchers hope the drug could be used as a preventive treatment.

Professor Wischik co-founded TauRx Therapeutics, which is developing the treatment.

Professor Stephen Logan, professor of neuroscience and TauRx board member, said: ‘This is a fantastic breakthrough and very exciting.

‘Patients have been doing well for 18 or 19 months. They are continuing to take the drug and will probably do so until there is no benefit or they start to decline.

‘It’s not reversing the disease process, but appears to stabilise it. It could be on the market by 2012.’

Professor Logan said the team is working on scanning techniques to detect the early stages of tangles so the drug could be used as a preventive but this would take much longer to perfect.

He said the cost of the treatment is unknown but would need to be compared with the expense of caring for Alzheimer’s sufferers both in the community and in hospital.

Existing Alzheimer’s drugs costing £2.50 have been banned for NHS use in sufferers of ‘mild’ disease on grounds of cost.

Around 700,000 Britons have dementia, with the majority suffering Alzheimer’s, and the number is increasing as people live longer.

Professor Clive Ballard, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said it is a major development.

But he warned there is a long way to go before the treatment will become available for patients.

He said: ‘It is the first realistic evidence that a new drug can improve cognition in people with Alzheimer’s.

‘However we are not there yet. Larger scale trials are now needed to confirm the safety of this drug and establish how far it could benefit the thousands of people living with this devastating disease.’

I feel more confident, more positive

Sandra Sutherland had been struggling to focus on her job in accounts for several years when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

The 61-year-old tested positive for the disease in 2005 as doctors investigated another medical condition.

Drug trial: Sandra Sutherland with husband Ian

She said: ‘When I was diagnosed I was absolutely gobsmacked. I tell everyone that I meet that I have Alzheimer’s and they can’t believe it.’

Mrs Sutherland, who lives with her husband and two sons in Aberdeen and enjoys crosswords and gardening, started a trial of rember two years ago and believes the medication has helped her.

She said: ‘Since I’ve been on the trial I feel more confident, more positive. I think my concentration has levelled off and not got any worse.’

Her husband Ian added: ‘Sandra still has days when she is not great

‘But there has been no decline in the mini-mental tests she has had to do as part of the trial, so it would appear the medication is working.’

Jimmy Hardie, 72, used to put sugar mistakenly in the fridge and suffered mood swings. He and his wife Dorothy, a 69-year-old former nurse, live in the coastal village of Boddam, south of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire.

The couple have two children and five grandchildren, who all live in the Buchan area.

Mr Hardie was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease three years ago, after he began to suffer ‘blank’ periods and could not remember what he was about to do. He started on the rember trial in 2006.

Mrs Hardie said she believes the treatment has helped her husband gain confidence. He runs a trout fishery, is an enthusiastic handyman and loves his shed.

‘Two years ago if Jimmy had gone to his shed, he may have forgotten what he was about to do,’ she said. ‘Now he is able to plan what he wants to do, go and get the tools that he needs and do the task. It is very encouraging.’

Mr Hardie, who worked at the nearby power station for 14 years, added: ‘I feel the treatment has helped me. Having a lot of friends and hobbies has also been a great help.’



