Archive for August, 2009

Alzheimer's Diembon Therapy Research in Foreign Press

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Jedan eksperimentalni lek izgleda da pomaže ljudima koji pate od gubitka pamćenja povezanog sa Alchajmerovom bolešću. Lek je nazvan Dimebon, a prvi testovi u Evropi i Rusiji pokazali su da on poboljšava pamćenje. U Sjedinjenim Državama je u toku testiranje ovog leka

Alchajmerova bolest je progresivan poremećaj koji postepeno dovodi do smanjenja pamćenja i sposobnosti govora i na kraju sposobnosti da brinete o samom sebi. Rizik od razvoja bolesti povećava se kako ljudi postaju stariji. U Viskonsinu, Fondacija Din je jedna od brojnih istraživačkih grupa koje rade sa pacijentima obolelim od Alchajmera kako bi ustanovile da li lek Dimebon ima dugotrajne efekte. Doktorka Lesli Tejlor predvodi studiju.

Early trials of a drug called Dimebon in Europe and Russia shows improvement in people’s memories
Prva ispitavanja Dimebona u Evropi pokazala su poboljšanje pamćenja kod obolelih od Alchajmera
„To neće biti potpuno izlečenje, ali nadajmo se da će delovato bolje od bilo čega što se trenutno nalazi na tržištu protiv Alchajmerove bolesti“.

Ivanki Grabarek ustanovljena je dijagnoza Alchajmerove bolesti prošlog juna. Ona je učestvovala u kliničkim probama. Ali, ona i njen suprug Bil ne znaju da li je ona dobijala Dimebon ili placebo. Bil Grabarek je u telefonskom razgovoru govorio o studiji. On veruje da je ona veoma važna.

„Spora je i neizvesna, ali u osnovi verujem da će javnost imati koristi od podataka koje je predstavila“.

Doktorka Tejlor kaže da su prethodna ispitivanja pokazala da Dimebon poboljšava pamćenje za godinu dana.

„To bi bilo zaista veliko dostignuće. To bi značilo ulazak u potpuno novo područje u pogledu lečenja Alchajmerove bolesti“.

Ova poslednja faza testiranja trajaće oko dve godine. Zatim će američka Agencija za hranu i lekove odlučiti da li će odobriti taj lek za sve ljude koji imaju Alchajmerovu bolest

http://www.voanews.com/Serbian/archive/2009-01/2009-01-28-voa9.cfm?CFID=268993292&CFTOKEN=75770916&jsessionid=84301307475a46e309012d66305d5e375d47

Dimebon Alzheimer’s Disease

http://www.dimebonalzheimers.com

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Additional Sources New Upcoming Medications Alzheimer's Arena – Financial Analysts

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Pfizer and the Japanese drug maker Eisai, currently co-market Aricept, the leading Alzheimer’s drug today with worldwide sales of more than $2 billion.

But Aricept loses patent protection at the end of next year, which is one reason why Pfizer has decided to invest heavily in new Alzheimer’s drug research.
Last September, Pfizer acquired worldwide commercial rights to Dimebon, an experimental Alzheimer’s drug currently in phase III studies. Pfizer paid Medivation(MDVN Quote), Dimebon’s owner, $225 million upfront for the rights, making it one of the largest drug partnership deals of 2008.

Pfizer also has four Alzheimer’s drugs in its own pipeline, most of which are in the early stages of clinical trials. This includes an experimental Alzheimer’s drug acquired in 2006 when Pfizer bought privately held Rinat Neuroscience.

Wyeth has 10 Alzheimer’s drugs in clinical trials, both internally and through partnerships, the most important of which is with Irish drug maker Elan(ELN Quote). The two companies share development efforts and marketing rights to bapineuzumab, which is being studied in four phase III clinical trials.

If the acquisition of Wyeth announced Monday closes as is, Pfizer would boost its Alzheimer’s drug pipeline from five drugs in clinical trials to 15, including two of the four drugs currently in pivotal phase III studies. (Eli Lilly(LLY Quote) and Baxter(BAX Quote) own the other two phase III Alzheimer’s drugs.)

Any new drug that could potentially stop or even reverse the loss of memory or cognitive decline that makes Alzheimer’s such a devastating disease would be a mega-blockbuster. Actual sales estimates vary and are conditional on the efficacy and safety profile of the drug, but it’s not out of bounds to forecast a groundbreaking Alzheimer’s drug achieving peak sales of well over $10 billion, perhaps even $20 billion a year.

More on PFE ‘Fast Money’ Portfolios of the WeekStock Wrap: The Real Story, August 5Mad About Options: Keeping Healthy With BaxterPfizer Prescribes SustainabilityDollar Drops as Risk Appetite GrowsToday’s Outrage: Bemoaning the ‘Strong’ DollarWyeth Lifts ’09 Forecast as Earnings GainPfizer’s Blah Quarter Points to Wyeth DealDividend.com: Midday PlaybookCramer’s Take on Headline Stocks Market Activity Elan Corporation PLC| ELN UPEli Lilly & Company| LLY UPPfizer’s cholesterol drug Lipitor, with $13 billion a year in sales, loses patent protection in 2011. If Pfizer were to hit it big with a groundbreaking Alzheimer’s drug, the company and its investors would find it a lot easier to forget about lost Lipitor sales.
Before Pfizer can start counting new Alzheimer’s revenue, the company faces a host of challenges, not the least of which is waiting to see how many, if any, of these experimental Alzheimer’s drugs will actually wind up working.

Even before that, Pfizer could face scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, owing to potential antitrust issues arising from amassing such a large portfolio of Alzheimer’s drugs. This could lead to Pfizer having to divest some of its Alzheimer’s assets, says Jack Walsh, a commercial litigator with the law firm Lathrop & Gage in St. Louis, Mo.

Pfizer spokesman Jack Cox said, “We can’t speculate on the actions of regulators, but we recognize that this is a large, complex transaction. We will work closely with the regulatory bodies to obtain the necessary clearances.”

And Pfizer may have a tricky time managing relationships with its two main Alzheimer’s partners – Medivation and Elan — both of which will want to be seen as a priority over the other when it comes to Pfizer’s time and financial commitment.

More on PFE ‘Fast Money’ Portfolios of the WeekStock Wrap: The Real Story, August 5Mad About Options: Keeping Healthy With BaxterPfizer Prescribes SustainabilityDollar Drops as Risk Appetite GrowsToday’s Outrage: Bemoaning the ‘Strong’ DollarWyeth Lifts ’09 Forecast as Earnings GainPfizer’s Blah Quarter Points to Wyeth DealDividend.com: Midday PlaybookCramer’s Take on Headline Stocks Market Activity Elan Corporation PLC| ELN UPEli Lilly & Company| LLY UPPfizer singled out bapineuzumab in its press release discussing the Wyeth acquisition and also talked about the importance of the drug and Alzheimer’s, in general, on its Monday conference calls.
Corey Davis, drug analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder, says this was likely Pfizer trying to ease any misgivings Elan may have, especially given Pfizer’s existing commitment to Medivation.

“The fact that Pfizer specifically talked about bapineuzumab was probably a signal to Elan that Pfizer intends to maintain Wyeth’s investment in the drug,” said Davis, who covers Elan with a buy rating.

But if Pfizer was sending the love to Elan on Monday, it wasn’t necessarily reciprocated.

Elan spokeswoman Mary Stutts said the company expects a federal antitrust review of the Pfizer-Wyeth deal, particularly in terms of the Alzheimer’s assets, and that until that review is completed, Elan is taking a wait and see attitude.

“We cannot assume at this point that Pfizer will be Elan’s partner for bapineuzumab,” said Stutts.

She added that the current contract between Elan and Wyeth for bapineuzumab and a second Alzheimer’s drug, ACC-001, does include change of control provisions. Stutts would not elaborate on the details of those provisions.

Doug Petkus, a spokesman for Wyeth, said the focus of both Wyeth and Pfizer continues to be on Alzheimer’s research, including bapineuzumab, but he would not say what ultimately happens to the relationship with Elan if and when Pfizer acquires Wyeth.

Data from a phase II study of bapineuzumab, presented last year, raised doubts about the drug’s efficacy and safety. While Elan has moved aggressively to enroll patients in two U.S.-based phase III clinical trials, Wyeth has had problems enrolling patients in two international studies due to safety concerns raised primarily by regulators in Europe.

Natixis analyst Davis believes there is little chance that Pfizer will decide to drop bapineuzumab altogether. “The phase III studies are pretty much on auto-pilot now, so I don’t think Pfizer has much incentive to make major changes.”

Medivation CEO David Hung says his company’s partnership with Pfizer remains unchanged.

“We have not been told of any changes, so I assume that we’re on track. The partnership [for Dimebon] has gone very well and Pfizer speaks enthusiastically about the drug. Alzheimer’s is definitely an area where Pfizer is committed to investing a lot of resources.”

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10460064/1/pfizer-gamles-on-building-alzheimers-empire.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEFI

Dimebon Alzheimer’s Disease

http://www.dimebonalzheimers.com

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Review Current , New , Novel Approaches Treatment Diagnosis Alzheimer's Disease

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

Modest evidence has shown steady progress in delaying the progression from mild cognitive impairment to early AD, but no pharmaceutical has yet been shown to prevent the onset and outcomes of the disease.1-5 Therefore, a holistic, health-promoting lifelong lifestyle and a “multimodal neuroprotective and neurorestorative” approach are being tested.6

What’s Been Tried
Treatment of AD has typically concentrated on managing key symptoms, including:

• gradual declines in short-term or episodic memory and functional status;

• disease-related neuropsychiatric behaviors that are potentially deleterious to patients or those around them (depression, agitation, aggression, insomnia, wandering); and

• cognitive impairment ranging from problems with information processing and the executive control functions of planning, organizing and decision-making to symptoms of psychosis, including delusions (usually paranoid in nature) and hallucinations.1,7,8

Cognitive symptoms – the most troublesome for patients with consequences for the other domains – have traditionally been treated with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors such as tacrine, donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine, as well as memantine, the noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist – each with “transient symptomatic benefit without modification … of the underlying disease process.”3

Due to its adverse drug reactions, tacrine is seldom used. And no evidence supports the use of statins, vitamin E, ginkgo biloba, melanin, glucocorticoids (prednisone, NSAIDs) or estrogens – with or without progesterone – to prevent or slow AD progression.3,9

What’s Being Tested
Results from in vitro and in vivo preliminary studies suggest new treatments for AD, but findings have not been successfully replicated with humans diagnosed with probable AD.

Efficacy of treatments at the various stages of AD has yet to be demonstrated in large, randomized, controlled trials, or in the complex environments and neurological and social networks of individuals.10

In tandem with symptom management research, efforts continue to concentrate on preventing and treating the neuropathological changes associated with the onset and progression of AD.11 Most research has emphasized reducing beta-amyloid production to prevent amyloid plaque burden, reduce neuroinflammation and reverse disease-related abnormal behaviors.2,5,12

However, AD may have multiple causes (see Table).

On The Horizon
While the exact causal path of AD is not known, its multifactorial nature has prompted the development of novel treatments and multifunction drugs.6,13

Although the discovery of safe, efficacious and well-tolerated vaccines for AD still seems remote.14 Preliminary results of immunizing against self-peptide beta-amyloid are encouraging.15,16

“Agents that interfere with the production of insoluble amyloid fragments in the brain, or accelerate their clearance, are being actively pursued. Despite previous disappointments, it is possible a vaccine may eventually be found.”10

In terms of genetics, “new susceptibility genes for late-onset AD continue to be found with increasing regularity.”10

Nanotechnology (atomic and molecular biochemical engineering) and stem cell technology have seen promising leads in fostering sustained drug delivery across the blood brain barrier to promote neuroregeneration.11

Pharmaceutical Approaches
Some pharmaceutical approaches stand out as possible treatments for AD.

The nonselective antihistamine dimebon, an investigational drug being tested in Russia, seems to improve cognition, functional status, behaviors and global functioning in mild-to-moderate AD, with benefits persisting 1 year after treatment initiation.1

Rosiglitazone, the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) agonist, improved memory and cognition in mild-to-moderate AD in one study. PPARgamma is a “prototypical ligand-activated nuclear receptor that coordinates lipid, glucose and energy metabolism and is found in elevated levels in the brains of individuals with AD.”2

Intranasal insulin has demonstrated preliminary efficacy in modulating beta-amyloid and improving cognition.17

Lifespan Approach

Large trials are needed to test pharmaceutical treatments with other lifestyle-based approaches that may prove neuroprotective, neurotropic or neurorestorative.6

These approaches include genetics; control of vascular risk factors (systolic hypertension, dyslipidemia); behavioral, cognitively stimulating and environmental enrichment; and over-the-counter possibilities such as antioxidants and vitamin B complex (especially folate), omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, the polyphenol curcumin and other nutraceuticals.10,13,18-23

At least five subgroups of AD exist, and each is probably caused by a different etiopathogenic mechanism. The success of clinical trials and the development of disease-modifying drugs can be furthered by identifying subgroups of AD patients.24

Because risk factors for AD may exist in childhood, research needs to occur across the lifespan. Establishing and maintaining healthy lifestyle habits early is paramount. Examples include restricting dietary saturated fat and high sodium intakes throughout life, avoiding smoking, and engaging in regular physical activity and meaningful social relationships.10, 25-30

Evidence-based algorithms of alternatives tailored to individuals’ age, AD subgroup, stage of AD, cultural/ethnic identification, health status and treatments of comorbidities remain our hope for the future.

References for this article can be accessed at www.advanceweb.com/lpn. Click References on the Magazine toolbar.

Barbara Swanson is an associate professor at Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago.

Popular Theories on Causes of Alzheimer’s Disease2,6,10-12

• Deposition of beta-amyloid peptides resulting in plaque formation

• Oxidative stress

• Tau hyperphosphorylation associated with neurofibrillary tangle formation

• Microglia-mediated neuroinflammatory processes

• Genetic aberrations (e.g., abnormal lipoprotein, apolipoprotein E4)

• Dysregulation of regional brain glucose and lipid metabolism and ionic (calcium, copper, iron) homeostasis

• Neurochemical imbalances including reductions in markers of acetycholine transferase and impairment in neurotransmitter systems (dopamine, glutamate, norepinephrine and serotonin)

http://lpn.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=192123

Dimebon Alzheimer’s Disease

http://www.dimebonalzheimers.com

Dimebon Alzheimer’s Disease

http://www.dimebonalzheimers.com

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Additional Information Dimebon Clinical Trials

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

There are two important aspects to this clinical trial.

* First, when you enter this clinical trial you might receive the placebo, rather than the drug.
* Second, this clinical trial has a good feature–once the six month testing period ends– all patients will be eligible to receive Dimebon in an open-label extension trial.

So here is one note to Dawn. Even if you get the placebo during the clinical trial, you will get the Dimebon at the end of the trial period.

http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/2009/03/how-do-you-get-dimebon.html

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Other Promising Drugs Medications for Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Borgess Research Institute has 12 patients participating in drug trials for an Alzheimer’s drug that appears to slow the onset of the disease, and it is looking for more.

Patients are still being accepted for the Phase 3 trial, first announced here last February and part of a nationwide study, said Dr. Phillip Green, a Borgess researcher overseeing local testing. While 12 patients from across southwestern Michigan have enrolled, Green said the institute hopes to have a total of 16 to 20 participants.

Testing began here in June. So far, local researchers have seen no complications from the drug.
Who is eligible for the study

Participants in the Alzheimer’s drug trial must be age 50 to 88, have a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s disease and mild to moderate symptoms and have caregivers who are willing to be involved in the study.

At this point, the study has been closed to patients carrying the apolipoprotein E4 aliel, one of the most common genetic markers for the disease.

Participants in the trial receive intravenous infusions of the drug bapienuzumab every three months for a period of 18 months. Researchers will give patients screening tests to evaluate their cognitive skills, daily-living skills and behavioral patterns.

About 60 percent of participants will receive the drug, while the other 40 percent will receive a placebo.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Call the Borgess Research Institute at 226-4803 or visit the Web site.

Alzheimer’s is a disease that kills brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior and eventually causing death.

It is believed to be caused by the buildup of two substances in the brain: plaques and tangles. Plaques build up between nerve cells and contain beta-amyloid, a protein fragment. Tangles form inside dying cells and are twisted fibers of another protein.

The researchers are studying bapienuzumab, also known as AAB-001, which breaks down the amyloids in the plaques so they can be eliminated from the brain.

“In initial work, 90 percent of amyloid burden was removed from brains of genetically engineered mice,” Green said.

Researchers hope to work with patients in the early stages of the disease, because “once you start establishing plaques, it seems to set up the further progression of change in the brain in terms of the neurofibrillary tangles,” Green said. “We need to stop the tangles from getting started.”

Green said it is estimated that nearly 5.2 million Americans have Alzheimer’s but that only 50 percent of those cases are diagnosed. In addition, only half of the diagnosed patients are receiving appropriate drug therapy, he said.

The lack of early diagnosis hampers researchers looking for patients with early symptoms, he said. Often, those experiencing symptoms such as problems with memory simply attribute them to normal aging patterns, he said.

Other promising drugs

Green said two other promising Alzheimer’s drugs are in various stages of testing.

Dimebon is an older medication that was used as an antihistamine in Russia. It appears to be a neuroprotector that provides stabilization and improvement of behavior and cognition symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s. Green said he is hoping to get a Dimebon trial at Borgess.

http://www.mlive.com/living/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/01/borgess_seeking_more_patients_1.html

Dimebon Alzheimer’s Disease

http://www.dimebonalzheimers.com

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Bapineuzumab Clinical Trial in Patients With Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease (ApoE4 Non-Carrier)

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Who is eligible for the study ?

Participants in the Alzheimer’s drug trial must be age 50 to 88, have a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s disease and mild to moderate symptoms and have caregivers who are willing to be involved in the study.

At this point, the study has been closed to patients carrying the apolipoprotein E4 aliel, one of the most common genetic markers for the disease.

Participants in the trial receive intravenous infusions of the drug bapienuzumab every three months for a period of 18 months. Researchers will give patients screening tests to evaluate their cognitive skills, daily-living skills and behavioral patterns.

About 60 percent of participants will receive the drug, while the other 40 percent will receive a placebo.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

• Call the Borgess Research Institute at 226-4803 or visit the Web site

Dimebon Alzheimer’s Disease

http://www.dimebonalzheimers.com

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Additional Reports Analysis Dimebon Dimebolin Worldwide

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Dimebon bessert Symptome einer Alzheimer-Demenz

Der vormals als Antiallergikum vermarktete Wirkstoff Dimebon kann den klinischen Verlauf von milden bis moderaten Formen Alzheimer-Krankheit erheblich verbessern, so das Ergebnis einer Langzeituntersuchung. Dimebon zeigte einen stetig zunehmenden Nutzen gegenüber Placebo, was mit keiner anderen gegenwärtig zugelassenen Alzheimer-Therapie erreicht wird.

Der Wirkstoff Dimebon war ab 1983 in Russland als orales Antihistaminikum zur Heuschnupfenbehandlung im Handel, nach der Zulassung von antihistaminischen Wirkstoffen der nächsten Generation verschwand er jedoch aus kommerziellen Gründen wieder vom Markt. Jetzt wurde Dimebon im Hinblick auf seine Wirksamkeit bei neurodegenerativen Erkrankungen getestet. Eine Arbeitsgruppe am Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center in Houston untersuchte die Wirksamkeit von Dimebon bei milden bis moderaten Alzheimer-Formen in einer randomisierten, placebo-kontrollierten Doppelblind-Studie mit 183 Probanden. Ihre kognitive Leistungsfähigkeit wurde in regelmäßigen Abständen anhand der Alzheimer-Disease Assessment Scale – cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog-Skala), sowie vier weiteren Demenztests beurteilt. 155 Patienten beendeten die Studie nach sechs Monaten und zeigten durchgehend positive Ergebnisse. In der Verumgruppe verbesserte sich der ADAS-cog-Wert um 2 Punkte, wohingegen er sich in der Placebo-Gruppe um 2 Einheiten verschlechtere. Zum Vergleich: 2007 gab das IQWiG die Wirkung des Cholinesterasehemmer Donepezil, ebenfalls mit einer Verbesserung von 2 bis 3 Punkten auf der ADAS-cog-Skala an. 134 Patienten entschieden sich nach Beendigung des ersten Studienabschnitts, an einer, weitere sechs Monate dauernden, Extensionsphase teilzunehmen. Zunächst hielt die Verbesserung an, erst ab der 39. Woche war eine allmähliche Verschlechterung zu beobachten. Allerdings waren die Ergebnisse auch nach einem Jahr noch immer besser als zu Beginn der Studie. Die Differenz zwischen der Verum und der Placebo-Gruppe im ADAS-cog stieg während des gesamten Studienverlaufs kontinuierlich an. Dies ist laut den Autoren der Studie besonders bemerkenswert, da dies mit keiner anderen gegenwärtig zugelassenen Alzheimer-Therapie erreicht wird.

Dimebon Alzheimer’s Disease

http://www.dimebonalzheimers.com

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Layman's Explanation Dimebon / Dimebolin Treatment Alzheimer's Disease Current Dimebon Studies Underway

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Researchers have reported promising results for a new Alzheimer’s drug. We take a close look at the evidence, to see whether it might offer a new option for treatment.

What is Known At this Point in Time for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease ?

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in older people. If someone has dementia, they have trouble with memory and thinking. Their behavior often changes, and eventually they become unable to look after themselves.

There are several treatments to help with the symptoms of dementia, although none of them can cure it. Drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors seem to slow the progress of dementia in some people. However, there’s been a lot of controversy about how well these drugs work.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is the organisation that decides which treatments can be offered on the NHS. NICE says that three different cholinesterase inhibitors can be used on the NHS, but only for people with moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The drugs aren’t recommended for people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

Dementia is likely to be a big problem in future years, as people are living longer on average, so are more likely to get dementia. Doctors are looking for more treatments that may be useful for dementia. One drug being studied at the moment is called dimebon. It’s an antihistamine that was once used to treat allergies. But it was dropped when other allergy drugs were developed. Now, doctors are looking to see if it’s helpful for Alzheimer’s disease.

What does the new study say?

Dimebon worked better than a dummy (placebo) drug for people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, over six months to a year. People taking dimebon had improved test scores for thinking and memory. People taking the placebo had scores that got worse over the course of the study.

Researchers found the same results using several different tests, all of which looked mainly at how well people could think and remember things.

Tell me more about the study’s findings

The improvement in test scores happened mostly in the first three to six months of the study. Towards the end of 12 months, the average test scores for people taking dimebon had started to go down. But, because the test scores for people who took a placebo went down steadily during the whole 12 months, the people taking dimebon did much better by comparison at the end of the year.

It’s hard to know exactly what the test scores mean. The main test used has a maximum of 70 points. People taking dimebon did about 4 points better than people taking placebo after six months, and 7 points better after a year. That’s a big enough difference for a doctor to notice. But it’s hard to say what that means for the patient. For example, we don’t know whether it would mean someone could stay in their own home, rather than needing care in a nursing home.

People in the study didn’t get many serious side effects from dimebon. A dry mouth was the most common side effect.

Where does the study come from?

The study was carried out in Moscow, Russia, but overseen by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. It was published in The Lancet, a medical journal owned by a publishing company called Elsevier. It was funded by Medivation, the US company that makes and wants to sell dimebon. It’s quite common for medicine manufacturers to fund medical trials of their drugs.

How reliable are the findings?

The trial was carried out carefully, and over enough time that it should show a real result. It was a type of study called a randomised controlled trial, which is the best sort of study to see if one drug works better than another, or better than a placebo. However, there are some things that should make us cautious.

  • It’s not a very big study. Only 183 patients took part.
  • All the patients were in Russian hospitals. Treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is quite different in Russia, compared to the UK. People tend to be in big wards, in hospitals, and the drugs used in the UK are not widely available. So it’s hard to know whether these results would be the same if the drug was tested in the UK.

The study didn’t compare dimebon with existing drugs for Alzheimer’s disease. It seems to be better than no treatment at all, but we can’t say whether it’s better or worse than the drugs we have already.

What does this mean for me?

If you have Alzheimer’s, or you are caring for someone with the disease, you’ll probably be keen to hear about any potential new treatment. This new study gives some hope that dimebon might be a useful option. But we need to see more research to be sure. Even if more studies show it works well, it’s likely to be several years before dimebon is available as a treatment for Alzheimer’s.

Current Choice Actions for Friends & Family Suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease Dementia

There’s no need to take any action as a result of this study. If you care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease and are worried about their treatment, see your doctor. There are currently three drugs approved in the UK to treat moderate Alzheimer’s. They’re called donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/besttreatments/2008/jul/18/new-alzheimers-treatment-tested

Dimebon Alzheimer’s Disease

http://www.dimebonalzheimers.com

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