I just received the link below from a friend. Sounds too good to be true, and something I haven't seen here. I hope I have the spelling right for anyone who wants to read the article. The drug is called etanercept.
Yes, this was on the news here on one of the Philly stations. The station I tend to watch news on has a strong medical reporter, so it might have been her, or it might have been on the CBS national news (another really strong medical reporter). At this point it is still in trials. That is all I know.
Here is another article. He is using an anti-inflammatory drug.
Scroll down on this page for the topics, "Enbrel", and "a new low". This treatment is discussed under those topics. Also, click "articles of interest" on the left side of the website; look under the "Drugs and Treatment" heading, and click on "Reversal of Alzheimer Symptoms".
Guess that clear up this little line of hope. I wondered if it was Enbrel, because it was injected in to the spine, but didn't see that name in the article. Oh well...
I'd like to point out that this doctor is in Los Angeles, not Florida. It might be the same treatment, but it isn't the same doctor we were discussing in another thread. Or at least I don't think so...
I just checked the other thread. Definately not the same doctor or the same state. There is a huge thread about this over in the Alzheimer's site called Enbril for Alzheimer's. The part of the thread I read was all about the clinic in Los Angeles.
From what I understand other doctors are now learning the procedure from the original doctor . I don't know what that involves. When I first read about this I was very hopeful but it has been some time ago , at least several months ago .It seems to me that if it was really all he claims it is, people would be shouting from the roof tops. With so many people with Ad and the expense of the disease so enormous I would think that lots of funding would be made available. For me money would be a major draw back but I can certainly understand people wanting to try it. I think one ofthe saddest things aboutthis disease is that we are given so little hope.
Well this is not a new drug. It is a new drug application, so the entire method of handling things is different. Normally there would be drug trials for a new drug application, but there do not have to be. The doctors can just start giving out the drug for the new application without getting it FDA approved for that new use. If it is not FDA approved insurance companies are not going to pay for it.
I got to know some of this stuff when contact lenses became a "drug" under the FDA. My husband was involved in taking plastics that had been developed for other things and making contact lenses out of them. (That is what all soft lenses are. Lenses made out of a plastic that was originally developed to deliver drugs.) And then taking bits of lens designs from several lenses all made from an already accepted plastic to make a second generation improved lens. That was also considered a new drug application. The FDA was really strict with the contact lens firms, so they didn't get to play around like the doctors involved in this drug seem to be doing.
On the other hand the doctor in LA does seem to be publishing, both professionally and for the public. I'm not sure what the one in Florida is up to since I've never looked into him.
The doctor in LA, Tobinick, holds many patents purportedly covering this treatment. He came up with the idea and has been treating patients for more than three years. He has recently been training the doctor in Florida.
There have to be new trials for new applications of an approved drug, and also for new methods of administration. Perispinal admin for AD qualifies as both. Until that is done, then any use such as using enbrel for AD, is "off-label." A doctor can use an approved drug in an "off-label" manner, but drug companies cannot encourage such use, or advertise it, or try to talk doctors into using it that way.
As for the publications, there have been two, and both have been of a very poor quality. Very, very poor.
The Alzheimer Research Forum has an excellent review: http://www.alzforum.org/new/detail.asp?id=1738