Free Republic

A U.S. drug company did not openly share or perform further studies on a successful rheumatoid arthritis medicine that internal researchers suggested was reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 64 percent, according to Washington Post article published Tuesday. Researchers at Pfizer reportedly urged the firm to conduct a clinical trial after finding the potential hidden benefit of the anti-inflammatory drug Enbrel while analyzing insurance claims. It was estimated to cost $80 million to conduct the trial, and Pfizer decided to pass. Pfizer told the Post it did not pursue the clinical trial because its success rate would likely be...

DEMENTIA - including Alzheimer’s disease - still has no effective treatment. However, the first new drugs for 14 years are likely to be approved next year - and they might just be the cure. Dementia is a decline in mental ability, and Alzheimer’s disease is its most common type. There are currently 44 million people around the world who suffer from the debilitating condition, which can cause memory loss and problems thinking. Despite the fact it costs the UK £26 billion a year, scientists have remained unable to successfully treat Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. Last month a clinical...

A revolutionary drug that could stop people from ever developing Alzheimer’s disease has been unveiled by scientists. Trials have produced ‘unprecedented’ results and the medicine has been hailed as a potential game-changer in the fight against the cruel disease. In future, healthy pensioners could be prescribed the drug to ward off dementia, in much the same way as statins are given today to those at risk of heart attacks. One British expert described the drug, which is about to be tested in hospitals around the UK, as the best yet, others called it ‘ingenious’ work with ‘tantalising’ results.And a US...

Alzheimer's could be prevented and even cured by boosting the brain's own immune response, scientists at Stanford University believe. Researchers discovered that nerve cells die because cells which are supposed to clear the brain of bacteria, viruses and dangerous deposits, stop working. These cells, called 'microglia' function well when people are young, but when they age, a single protein called EP2 stops them operating efficiently. Now scientists have shown that blocking the protein allows the microglia to function normally again so they can hoover up the dangerous sticky amyloid-beta plaques which damage nerve cells in Alzheimer's disease. The researchers found...

AUSTRALIAN scientists may have found a cure for Alzheimer's disease. In a world first, a Melbourne research team has developed the once-a-day pill to combat the brain disease. Human trials of the drug start next month. The drug, known as PBT2, was developed by the Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria in partnership with Prana Biotechnology in Melbourne. "It is a major breakthrough and very much a Melbourne discovery,'' said Professor George Fink, the director of the Mental Health Research Institute. "Though much depends on the next phase of human clinical trials ... early results indicate this drug offers hope...