Treatment could halt Alzheimer’s symptoms

‘Most exciting drug in development’: study

LONDON – A treatment that has been shown to halt symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease for three years has been described as the “most exciting drug in development.”

The drug is given to people with immune system problems but can have remarkable effects on Alzheimer’s sufferers, the first human trial has shown.

It stopped the decline in thinking skills, memory, ability to live independently and mood among people with mild to moderate symptoms.

Medical experts said the drug, known as IVIG, could be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease within a decade.

One in three people over the age of 65 will develop dementia and there now is no cure.

The new treatment, intravenous immunoglobulin, contains antibodies from blood donors and is normally used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and serious infections. It is not recommended for use in Alzheimer’s but the study by a team at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York has proved so successful that larger trials are now under way.

Their study involved 24 people, 11 of whom had infusions of IVIG for three years at various doses.

All performed well on tests after three years, but those on one particular dose for the whole period showed no decline at all.

Dr. Anne Corbett, a research manager at the Alzheimer’s Society, said the treatment is thought to work by clearing toxic proteins called beta amyloid from the brain, allowing brain cells to function properly.

The findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Vancouver.

Dr. Norman Relkin, who led the study, said: “It is crucial that we find effective, long-term treatments. This is the first study to report long-term stabilization of Alzheimer’s symptoms with IVIG. While the small number of participants may limit the reliability of our findings, we are very enthusiastic about the results.”

Prof. Clive Ballard, the director of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said, “The real test will be whether these initial promising results can be replicated in larger groups.

Earlier studies of immunotherapy in Alzheimer’s disease had produced serious side effects as the treatment caused the immune system to go into overdrive, causing dangerous swelling of the brain.

It is not known exactly how the new treatment differs, but it has been suggested that it is able to specifically target the beta amyloid, as the study showed no side effects.