New drug trial to help alzheimers

A drug has stopped brain deterioration in alzheimer’s patients for the first time, scientists announced this week.

Mental decline was halted for 18 months in some patients, in results hailed as the strongest sign yet that an effective treatment for the disease is near.

Researchers said that the drug - taken as a tablet twice a day - could soon become the first medicine given to alzheimer’s patients to keep the disease at bay for as long as possible.

The final-stage trial had at first appeared to be a failure as the drug did not work in patients who were taking other dementia medicines.

However, among the 15 per cent of 891 patients not taking other medicines, the drug appeared to have remarkable effects.

These patients saw no drop-off in their reasoning and memory skills over 18 months, nor in their ability to carry out everyday tasks.

In addition, key areas of their brain shrank a third less than other patients in the trial, researchers told the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto.

‘‘There is a pattern of disease modification here,’’ Serge Gauthier, of McGill University, who presented the results, said. ‘‘This is the first time it has happened in our field that a drug reduces the rate of brain atrophy.’’

At present patients are prescribed drugs such as donepezil, also known as Aricept, which help to control symptoms for a time but do not stop worsening damage to the brain.

The drug, based on a blue dye, aims at dissolving a protein called tau, preventing it from forming tangles that kill off nerve cells. Many other drugs have targeted another protein, beta-amyloid, which also forms clumps in the brain of alzheimer’s patients.

Other scientists urged caution. David Knopman, of the Mayo Clinic, warned that looking only at a smaller group within a trial was ‘‘fraught with difficulties’’ because it increased the risk that impressive results could appear by chance.

The Times, LONDON