CHICAGO: Victorians with Alzheimer’s disease are the first in the world to receive a new drug aiming to revolutionize 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.
Alfred Health was selected by the overseas drug company to lead the first trial of Anavex 2-73 on patients with the disease.
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.
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…