‘Wonder’ drug for dementia patients

Victims may get 15 years free of memory loss

A NEW ‘wonder’ drug may give Alzheimer’s sufferers up to 15 more years without memory loss.

Scottish scientists say LMTX, the first drug of its kind, could be prescribed within two years.

It works by dissolving tangles of protein in the brain, halting the confusion and memory loss associated with dementia.

Existing drugs for mild to moderate Alzheimer’s only offer six months to a year of relief before the memory starts to worsen again.

So a treatment that puts a 15year brake on the disease would represent a leap forward for the 90,000 people north of the Border who have dementia.

Lead researcher Professor Claude Wischik of Aberdeen University cited a farmer with Alzheimer’s from the NorthEast who got his life back during clinical trials of the drug.

He said: ‘Six or seven years after he had been in the study, he was running his farm again. Before the study, his wife had to run it for him – and he stayed like that for maybe another ten or 11 years before he started to decline again.

‘I think that could be described as a reversal of the disease.’

Professor Wischik added: ‘Until now, there have only been symptomatic treatments. Starting treatments currently available will give you a temporary bump for about the equivalent of six months’ worth of lucidity, but then you will continue on the downward path as you have done before.

‘So they’re not really treatments in any sense, whereas our treatment, we think – and as we have certainly found in phase two testing – will arrest the progression.’

Alzheimer’s results from the build-up of two proteins in the brain – toxic tangles of a protein called tau inside brain cells and amyloid plaques outside them. It is the tau tangles that kill off nerve cells. Without them, brain cells would be unaffected.

Scans show tau tangles first gather in the hippocampus – the brain’s memory centre. The hippocampus is vital in con- verting short-term memories into long-term ones, which is why people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s have no problem describing their childhood but can have no idea what they have done earlier in the day.

LMTX can stop these memory lapses by treating the cause rather than the symptoms.

Professor Wischik, who is working with Singapore phar- maceutical company TauRx Therapeutics, is conducting trials on 1,910 patients in more than 200 clinics in 20 countries.

He said: ‘In the phase two tests, this drug achieved a 90 per cent reduction in the rate of progression on clinical measurements and a similar effect on the rate of loss of brain function, as measured by brain scans.

‘If all goes well, 2017 could be when we see this drug in the pharmacies and on the street.’

Chris Lynch, of Alzheimer Scotland, said: ‘We welcome this development and would like to see more information on the trial results of LMTX.

‘This is a promising announcement and will prompt a huge amount of interest and hope f r om people living with dementia and those who care for them.

‘We look forward to seeing if the final results confirm this drug will be able to change lives across Scotland and the world.’

‘A reversal of the disease’