Extraordinary new treatment for Alzheimer's
Brain scan of an Alzheimer’s patientCourtesy NIH/National Institute on Aging
Doctors in California have developed a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, in which patients show tremendous improvement within minutes.
Alzheimer’s is a disease of the brain which can severely impair memory, thinking and behavior. The researchers noticed that Alzheimer’s patients have very high levels of a protein called TNF, which is known to regulate brain activity. The treatment involves injecting an anti-TNF drug into the patient’s spinal fluid. The drug, Etanercept, has already been approved by the FDA for treatment of other diseases. The study involved only a small number of patients, but the strong positive results of this early test give hope that an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s could be on the horizon.
NOTE: As always when we discuss medical treatment on Science Buzz, it is important to point out – we are not doctors. We cannot give medical advice, nor should you take medical advice from anyone over the Internet. If you have questions about this treatment, you need to consult your physician.
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I live in S. Texas with a mother that has
Alzheimer's. Anyone know where this new treatment (etanercept) is available?
Ask your doctor. As I understand the article, the drug is available, but it's use in treating Alzheimer's is still experimental.
Right. It's not available as a treatment yet outside of a very, very limited trial. (The results came from a single clinic, and only a handful of patients.) And while these reports are promising, there has not yet been a controlled study for safety and efficacy.
The most telling bit, for me, is this one paragraph from a MedPageToday article on Etanercept and the recently published case report:
It's telling to me that, with the huge impact in quality of life a viable Alzheimer's drug could have, not to mention the potential market, Amgen is not pursuing the research right now.
Also, the MedPageToday article contains the following footer:
Now, the facts that the doctor holds stock in Amgen and has patents on his work with the drug don't mean that this case report isn't absolutely true. Unaffiliated researchers quoted in the article describe this as a promising avenue of research. But it will likely be a long time before etanercept becomes the standard of care for Alzheimer's, if it ever does.
If I read the article correctly, Etanercept has a generic equivalent. It could be that Amgen doesn't want to fund expensive studies of a drug it does not hold the rights to. Still, Liza is right, this is just one study, and a very small one at that. It will take a lot of additional research before we know if this is a valid treatment for Alzheimers, and whether or not there are any long-term side effects.
This is the email that was sent to my sister regarding the experimental study. You can contact Doctor Tobinick who is the person actually performing the study.
how do we know it wont damage surtain poeple with brain tissue problems. p.s. hi gle n I maybe 14 but I am in debate.
I heard about this new treatment from a friend + business associate of mine. My mother has Alzheimers, has been on all the standard drugs. She is in our apt,as we have a full time live in caregiver. Cognitively,she is still ok, but there is a decline,memory,apathy,(very bad) severe depression, she talks,but is silent alot. She's so withdrawn,it is so sad. I live in Toronto,Canada. She has a Geriatric Psychiatrist. (He comes to see her in our home every few months) I myself am a diabetic,on a statin, I read in a medical magazine about use of statins or diabetic oral pills to treat this,as it was explained that this could be a type of Diabetes. Yet,her psychiatrist has refused input from me. I'm grasping desperate at hope. Is this new drug available in Toronto? What about another new drug, "Gleevec"?
This is good. I know if it was me I wouldn't want to lose my memory and can't do anything about it. I would want to know my family and remember them.
Twila Turnage
I live in Dallas, Texas and my grandmother has it badly. First they said that it was dementia, but they later diagnosed it as Alzheimer's. My grandmother seemingly went into this overnight. She was a nurse her at Baylor hospital for nealry 35 years and one night one the way home in her brand new car, she feel asleep at the wheel and crashed into 4 cars around the corner from her house. Then one night shortly after at church, she fell and hit her head. Nearing retirement, her co-workers noticed that she was having problems remembering what floor she was on to, what patient took what? My grnadfather whom is older than her in his mid 70s and she is in her mid 60s is catching hardship of keeping up with the daily routine of caring for her. Can anyone give my family and i any information on this. Ironically, after so many years of caring for others and loving her job, Baylor hospital forgot about her and her dedication to being a nurse and now she needs the help.
My mother-in-law just returned from her 6-wk treatment in L.A. & is now back at home in Oklahoma. There is a clinic in Dallas that is taking on the weekly injections which is a lot closer to home than California. My father-in-law says he notices a difference from before the treatment. We can only hope.
Dear Leah~ How is your mother-in-law now? Have you seen further improvement? Where in Dallas do they administer the treatments? Thanks~Kelli
Wow, this is a great idea. It is wonderful to hear such a positive story about such a horrible disease.
Please someone tell me where this clinic is in Dallas for the injections for Alzheimer treatment
Marcia...Did you find out where in Dallas you can get treatment? I live in the Ft Worth area. My mom is in need of treatment also. Thanks...Lynn
How did this get posted? This kind of highly speculative and unscientific stuff just raises false hopes.
The purpose of Science Buzz is to discuss current topics in science. Sometimes those topics pan out; sometimes they don't. If we waited until all the evidence were in...well, it wouldn't be current anymore. We do not censor topics before-the-fact -- as long as it's science-related, we're happy to get a discussion started. I believe we included sufficient disclaimers as to the tentative nature of this finding.
You didn't -- Lisa did. Speculation about the relationship of dinosaurs to birds doesn't hurt anyone. Raising what are probaly false hope does. Even if this pans out, persons with severe case of Alzheimers won't be helped, just "teased" unfairly
wow thats great to hear ...well here a lotta people i mean old people are affected by it
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