Alzheimer’s Disease Studies Show Advances Against Different Treatment Targets

Two studies related to experimental Alzheimer’s therapies reported positive results today at the 2008 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD 2008) in Chicago.

One Phase II trial, of a compound called AL-108, targeted early abnormal brain changes in a protein called “tau” in a condition related to Alzheimer’s called mild cognitive impairment (MCI: 26.20, +0.25, +0.96%). The researchers saw improvement on various measures of memory. Another study examined brains of people with Alzheimer’s half of whom had diabetes, and half did not. The researchers found that people in the study who took a combination of insulin and oral anti-diabetes medications had fewer Alzheimer’s-related brain changes (amyloid plaques) than all the others in the study. This could be a pathway for developing new treatments.

Plus, a new study from the Mayo Clinic showed higher than expected rates of MCI in a large, older population. People with MCI have ongoing memory problems, but they do not have other losses such as confusion, attention problems, and difficulty with language. People with MCI are much more likely to get Alzheimer’s than the general population.

Source: foxbusiness.com