Posted on 04/12/2008 11:37:55 AM PDT by Lathspell
Scientists claim videos are proof of breakthrough
An injection that dramatically relieved the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease within minutes would qualify as the discovery of the decade. That is exactly what was claimed yesterday for an experimental treatment being tested in America.
Scientists at the Institute for Neurological Research at the University of California have treated around 50 patients at a private clinic by injecting an anti-arthritic drug, etanercept, into the spinal column in the neck and then tilting the patients to encourage the drug to flow to the brain.
They claim 90 per cent respond to the treatment, usually within minutes, and have released videos of patients to prove it.
In one, a nurse sits down with an 82-year-old patient, Marvin Millar, who frowns and mumbles incoherently as she asks him identify everyday objects such as a bracelet and a pencil, which he is unable to do.
But five minutes after being injected with etanercept – according to the film which was supplied and edited by the clinic – he greets his wife. Visibly shocked, she says he has not recognised her for years. Mr Miller then hugs her.
In a separate interview, also supplied by the clinic, she describes his improvements four weeks later, saying he makes sense 90 per cent of the time now, compared with none of the time before treatment started.
After the BBC reported the claims yesterday, callers jammed the Alzheimer's Society's helpline demanding details of the treatment.
Experts urged caution, warning that the drug had been tried on only a very few patients and, crucially, had not been tested against a placebo in a randomised controlled trial.
Etanercept is not a new drug, but this is a novel use of it. The California researchers injected it between the cervical vertebrae at the back of the neck, just below the skull, directly into the spinal column. Tilting is thought to encourage the drug to cross the blood-brain barrier. In arthritis, the drug blocks a chemical – tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) – which causes inflammation and pain in the joints. It is thought TNF may also influence inflammation in the brain, and that by damping down the process the drug may preserve brain function.
Professor Edward Tobinick, who is leading the research, said: "What we see is an improvement in ability to think and calculate, memory improves, verbal ability improves, [patients] find words easier, they seem happier and we often also see an improvement in gait in patients whose gait is affected."
The researchers said improvement usually continued with weekly injections until it reached a plateau at about three months. Some patients had been taking it for three years. But they have only published details of 15 patients in a pilot study.
An estimated 400,000 people suffer from Alzheim-er's disease in the UK and claims for new treatments are seized upon by relatives, desperate for any straw to clutch. Suzanne Sorenson, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said she had been sceptical of the claims when she heard about them in January but having seen the film foot-age, considered it was now time to run a trial.
"On the surface these results are exciting but we need to treat the study with caution," she said. "There are large gaps in the resear-ch, which used a small pilot group. We cannot draw conclusions until a controlled trial is carried out."
Clive Holmes, professor of biological psychiatry at Southampton University, a centre for research on dementia, said he was prepared to test the drug.
"The evidence from basic science suggests it is worth giving these drugs a trial to see if there is evidence on a larger basis," he said.
The elusive search for a cure
*A hundred years after Alzheimer's disease was discovered, a cure for the progressive neurodegenerative condition remains a distant dream. Despite dramatic breakthroughsin other areas, there has been little to celebrate in Alzheimer's. The main advance has been drugs to control symptoms such as agitation and restlessness. But restoring memory and cognitive ability has proved much harder.
The condition is caused by an accumulation of protein deposits in the brain which produce the symptoms of dementia.
There are three drugs with claims to halt the disease's progression (though not reverse it), Aricept, Reminyl and Exelon. In 2005 their NHS use was restricted to the moderate stage of the disease – as opposed to early or late stages – by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence because of their limited effect.
Discovery of the decade? Injection ‘could cure Alzheimer’s in minutes’...if true...what a miracle....
now lets hope for a discovery to cure liberalism!!!
Perhaps it’s not the drug.
Perhaps it’s just the tilting.
Perhaps it forces blood to the brain, and rejuvenates weak brain cells.
Possible also is that the drug assists in the blood passing ‘through’.
The point is a blind study with neither the patient nor the caregivers aware of which the patient is getting so they cannot bias their responses.
I think it would be very easy for loved ones to be "sure" the meds are helping, even if only because of their great desire for it to be so.
The patient asked for the bad news first and the Dr told him that he has AIDS.
The patient responded, "AIDS...OH MY GODDDD IM A DEAD MAN!!!!! everyone will think I'm queer, what will I tell my family?, give me the other news doc"
The doc said, "You also have Alzheimer's."
The patient responded, "Alzheimer's? what a relief, for a minute there I thought you were going to tell me I have AIDS."
ping
It’s not a complete reversal of the disease, but appears to
moderate some of the symptoms pretty well(relatively speaking).
The placebo should have everything the injectable form of
etanercept has in it( buffers, diluting fluid, things
called “excipients” (which help the drug dissolve in fluid),
or stabilizers (which keep the compound from breaking apart
in solution). And it should be administered in the same
exact way as the test compound. This is so the patient is
not clued into what they are receiving.
Plus there is a placebo effect. I would suppose the patients
treated can follow directions, and have the ability to
communicate somewhat. They can be affected by outside
stimuli hopefully. When they do the testing, they want
no difference in treatment other than the presenceof the
compound being tested, therefore you can rule out placebo
effect, or the effect of other aforementioned chemicals
and procedures...
The pesky questions are...why did only 90% have measurable
improvement. Could intrathecal injection of anything
improve the symptoms of Alz.? How long does it last?
Can it cause other neuronal symptoms?...
That is brief summary of why one wants to be absolutely
sure that the effect is due to the compound in question.
All of that from tilting the patient for a few minutes??
Come on, just stand the poor guy on his head and lets not inject him in the spine with some worthless substance.
I've been injected in the spine before.
They have to place and secure you in this kind of canvas body bag and strap it to the tilt table, then another nurse holds down your hands so that you don't claw yourself bloody or spit out the rubber mouthpiece that keeps you from biting your tongue off in extreme pain.
You all have to be kidding. - you cannot asthesthize the spine
Totally frustrating in that you know there is not one thing you can do to ease her pain. On Monday, I called my Dad to see if they got home ok. Dad said that she now does not even remember going.
This insidious disease must be a top priority of our nation.
I pray for a cure for this disease. I lost my grandmother to it. The changes she went through were horrific as Alheimers ravaged her brain.
When it's a matter of life and death and a loved one badly needs a drug right now, there are a couple of different routes to take. The best way to get the drug is to find a study group that's testing the drug, and get into the study as a guinea pig. Another way is to independently import (smuggle, if necessary) the drug from Canada, Mexico, or England. Of course I've never done that. (OTTB Mare whistles while gazing at ceilng.)
Since this drug helps to inhibit the inflammatory immune response on cell surfaces and altzheimers seems to be a type of immune response gone bad the results might make some sense. This type of drug is already in use and one of the commonly advertised forms is Embrel.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the AWP on etanercept over the next couple months. It’s already expensive as hell.
Wow. If this is validated this will be great news! Thanks for the post.
>>Just what we need. A pill to turn the former Mother-in-law from He!!, now in a nursing home, back into the mother-in-law from he!!.;-)<<
Others may think this is funny, but I thought the exact same thing, my FRiend!
?
How can an injection cure degeration that has already occured in the brain?
?
Could also be sticking the needle in the neck “acutpunctures” the patient’s memory back!
He no longer remembers that conversation and is showing the first stages of the disease.
The one thing I keep telling myself, (advise from my Dad), is that the person with the disease doesn't know. If they can be happy, if oblivious, then its not so bad for them. On the other hand my Grandfather was a cranky old bas**ard, but then he kind of was before anyway.
Still waiting to see which my Dad will be. It would be nice if this drug worked and we didn't have to find out.
I agree.
It doesn’t seem to make the patients good as new, plus there’s no telling how long before the injection wears off.
What if one would need a new injection in the neck every hour or so, followed by a period spent upside down?
Plus, it’s possible that repeated injections over time could begin to lose effectiveness.
But the best part is this study shows that some function can be restored, i.e., that it had not been forever destroyed.
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