HOUSTON: A clinical trial is underway to determine whether a new drug that attacks beta amyloid in the brain could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
If it can, scientists say it would be a breakthrough in the treatment of this disease that robs victims of their memory and ultimately causes death.
Beta amyloid is a protein that can form in the brain and previous research has suggested that when it builds up it plays a major role in the development of Alzheimer’s.
The drug is a mono-clonal antibody called solanezumab, which targets excess amyloid in the brain. It is being given to subjects ages 65 to 85 who are deemed at risk for Alzheimer’s disease-related memory loss but who have not yet shown signs of the disease.
If successful, doctors might eventually use positron emission tomography (PET scans) to locate beta amyloid as it begins to form plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease 10 to 20 years before they show any symptoms of the disease.
The idea is to remove that harmful protein from the brain before it can begin to build up. Researchers think it could delay memory loss by at least 10 years.