Drugs to halt dementia ‘will be available in a decade’
THE first drugs to halt the advance of Alzheimer’s disease will be available within a decade, experts said last night. Scientists said dementia research is in an ‘era of great optimism’ after a wave of breakthroughs – and predicted the first drugs will be prescribed on the NHS by 2025.
Professor John Hardy, of University College London, said scientists were awaiting the results of key trials expected in the coming months. If they are positive, scientists are ready to explore the area with more vigour.
Professor Hardy, speaking at the royal Society in London, said: ‘I think we are on target for some therapies for 2025. When the drug trial results come out – and if they’re positive – we will know we are on the right road.
‘When you are on the right road, you put your foot on the accelerator and you can go quicker, so those results are key. In the coming year we will know if we are already at the start of a new era of better treatments for slowing or stopping the development of Alzheimer’s disease.’
There are 850,000 dementia sufferers in Britain, and existing drugs only attack the disease’s symptoms. Experts are focusing on therapies that have shown signs of slowing the disease itself by fighting the build-up of amyloid beta protein in the brain.
Major trials of two drugs have shown signs of slowing the onset of Alzheimer’s with this method. Early trials of Solanezumab, made by US firm Eli Lilly, reduced the rate of mental decline by 34 per cent, according to results of published last year.
Experts are awaiting the final trial results this year before making a judgement as to whether the drug – delivered by a drip – really works. A second drug, made by Bayer, is also in trials.
Slowing the development of dementia would allow sufferers to live independently for longer.
Experts estimate that delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s by five years could halve the number who die with the condition, currently a third of over-65s. Dr Doug Brown, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘The development of treatments that can slow the rate of memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease will, without a doubt, mark a turning point in the way dementia is
‘The tables are turning’
managed, and be life- changing for people with the condition. The tables are turning.’
A health chief, speaking at the same event, said dementia research is lagging 25 years behind cancer. Dame Gill Morgan, chairman of NHS Providers, said yesterday: ‘Dementia is, in my view, the cruellest disease.
‘It is a cruel disease because your family watch you declining, and they lose the person, but they keep the body. Studies show that dementia is now the most feared disease, it is more feared than cancer. If you compare it to cancer, and the knowledge that we have about the biology and genetics of the disease, cancer is probably 20 to 25 years ahead.’