Has this been discussed before? Here is an excerpt from an e-mail from a friend who lives in England and whose wife died from A-D a year ago: There is a new Alzheimer's drug that slows the development of the condition. Researchers here are planning large-scale trials of the new treatment after early tests produced positive results. Five suffers who received injections of the drug called CPHPC three times a day showed no decline in their condition over three months, suggested that it could be more effective than current treatments which do not benefit some patients. The drug works by removing a protein called SAP from the brain and bloodstream. This protein has been shown to prevent the breakdown of the plaques that contribute to Alzheimer's. "The best drugs at the moment slow down progression by perhaps five percent in the first six months. If our drug did as much as that it would be wonderful. If it did more than that it would be significant," said Professor Mark Pepys of University Collage London who is leading the research. The drug was first developed nearly ten years ago to treat a condition called amyloidosis, which is also caused by a build-up in proteins. The new study showed that it removed all traces of SAP from the brain of five patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's. All I can say let's hope that it's not another false dawn in finding effective treatment for Alzheimer's.
Who knows if this is a false dawn or not, but new drug APPLICATIONS, as opposed to NEW DRUGS, go much faster through the testing process. They already know that the drug is safe to take. The only question is will it work on the new sickness they are testing for.
There are already drugs being used on dementia patients for anxiety and psychosis that were never tested on dementia patients.
Hi all.... big news in England today........."CPHPC, a compound developed by the British researchers offers some hope for Alzheimer’s disease (dementia).
CPHPC or (R)-1-[6-[(R)-2-Carboxy-pyrrolidin-1-yl]-6-oxo-hexanoyl]pyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid (CPHPC) is a small molecule drug which targets serum amyloid P component (SAP).
CPHPC is found to be effective for treatment of systemic amyloidosis, which is usually associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers at the University College London found the small molecule drug caused the disappearance of a protein called SAP, thought to be involved in the disease, from the brains of five Alzheimer’s patients who took it for three months.
The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Britain’s Alzheimer’s Research Trust, which helped fund the research, said the results with the drug, CPHPC, were cause for “cautious optimism,” but it was too soon to know for sure if removing SAP from the brain would provide clinical benefit.