Alzheimer’s jab ‘in 4 years’

A JAB that halts Alzheimer’s could be available within four years.

It works by priming the immune system to kill rogue proteins that ravage the brain.

These protein accumulations are known as tau, and “tangle” together inside brain cells – leading to the devastating illness that affects memory, and other areas of the brain.

A trial of almost 200 patients found the vaccine reduced mental deterioration by almost a third. Immunotherapy that boosts disease-fighting cells has been hailed as a “golden age” for medicine and scientists believe the vaccine will revolutionise treatment.

Corresponding author Dr Petr Novak, of Axon Neuroscience in Slovakia, said tau is behind Alzheimer’s origin.

He said: “This propagation of tau pathology is an ever-accelerating vicious circle – and as usual for vicious circles, it’s best if they are halted early. Interrupting it with the tau-targeted immunotherapy in individuals with pre-clinical Alzheimer’s would prevent it from ever advancing to the clinical stage.”

Patients receive a jab of the drug – AADvac1 – once a month for six months, then every 14 weeks.

Michal Fresser, CEO of Axon Neuroscience, said: “Our trial successfully demonstrated the strengths of AADvac1, a tau vaccine on track to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease.”

Volunteers are now being enrolled for a larger study over three years.

If the “exceptional” results are replicated – or improved – accelerated approval for clinical use could take only a few months.

In the UK, Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia blight the lives of more than 920,000 people – a figure set to rise to two million by 2050.

There is no cure for the disease.