Promising results for Scottish company’s Alzheimer’s drug trial
Alzheimer’s disease could one day be stopped in its tracks, results from a drug trial have shown – as a Scottish pharmaceutical company moved a step closer to making Scotland a world leader in dementia treatment.
Taurx, an Aberdeenshirebased life sciences company, is in the midst of testing a medicine that could potentially halt the deterioration of brain function in Alzheimer's patients. The breakthrough is giving hopetothemillionsofdementia sufferers worldwide and could potentially create the first preventative treatment for a deteriorating brain disease.
Last year, Taurx shared promising data from its ‘Lucidity’ drug trial, which showed its investigational drug hydromethylthionine mesylate (HMTM) leads to sustained cognitive improvement at an early, clinically detectable stage of Alzheimer’s – offering the prospect of improved brain function for patients. Now, new 24-monthdatashowssustained benefitsacrossthediseasespectrum from early to moderate dementia.
Professor Alistair Burns, emeritus professor of old age psychiatry at the University of Manchester, said: “We have reached an exciting time in the field of Alzheimer’s disease treatment. Afternonewtherapies forageneration,weareon the threshold of having a range of new treatments, which have therealpotentialtoslowthediseaseprocess.thisisgreatnews forpeoplewithalzheimer'sdisease, their families and carers.”
Analyses comparing the study participants “to closely matched real world data and meta-analytical controls” showed“significantlyreduced” disease progression in participants in the Lucidity trial.
Intheearlydiseasesubgroup, there was a significant reduction in transition to the dementia stage of Alzheimer’s.
Professorclaudewischik,the chief executive of Taurx, said there was “strong evidence” Hmtmimpactstheunderlying pathology of Alzheimer’s.
“When we compared our results with natural history real world data, we found statistically significant differences in cognitive and functional outcomes supporting the benefits of HMTM,” he said. “With the combination of a strong safety profile and accessibility offered by an orally administered drug, HMTM presents as a unique potential treatment option for patients and physicians.”
Dementia is one of the UK’S leadingcausesofdeathandalzheimer’s disease is responsible for 50 per cent of these cases. It is also set to affect more than a millionukresidentsbythemiddleofthiscenturyasthepopulation ages further.
Modern research focuses on the structure and role of ‘tau tangles’ in the development of Alzheimer’s, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other neurodegenerative diseases.
These ‘tangles’ are abnormal proteins, called tau, which impairthebrainfunctionofalzheimer’s sufferers.
Prof Wischik and the University of Aberdeen discovered the composition of the tau protein pathology in Alzheimer’s. The experimental compound involved in clinical trials belongs to a class of drugs knownastauaggregationinhibitors. According to Taurx, “by undoing the tangles that cause dementia, we aim to slow and potentially stop memory loss”.