Brain Injections for Alzheimer’s Disease Effective in Animals
Bapineuzumab , a drug designed to block an enzyme responsible for the build-up of sticky deposits, or amyloid plaques, reversed signs of Alzheimer’s disease when injected into the brains of mice and may offer hope for those afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.
The accumulation of damaging amyloid plaques may be the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
Bapineuzumab may be available for Alzheimer’s patients in a few years, said Kai Simons of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden.
When Bapineuzumab is injected into the brain of mice it works, Dr Simons reported. Success was seen with the direct brain injections in four hours, with reduced plaque formation as much as 50 percent.
Bapineuzumab is a drug that acts as an inhibitor of the enzyme beta-secretase .
Beta-secretase is responsible for forming damaging amyloid plaques and is partly blocked by some experimental Alzheimer’s drugs, including one from CoMentis. The newer drugs will be much more potent, according to Dr Simons.
Alzheimer’s is increasing in incidence as the population is aging and causes severe disability and suffering as it progresses. Developing effective treatments has proved notoriously difficult.
Existing drugs such as Aricept and Eisai, Exelon and Razadyne which ease symptoms but do not stop the disease.
Bapineuzumab from Wyeth and Elan, which is now in final Phase III clinical tests.
Currently there are about 18 million people with Alzheimer’s disease (world wide ) and this figure is projected to about double by 2025.
ref:
PubMed–Efficient inhibition of the Alzheimer’s disease beta-secretase by membrane targeting PMID: 18436784
[...] Continue Reading [...]