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Alzheimer's drug results to be revealed Hints drug can slow Alzheimer's
(about 2 hours later)
Eagerly awaited data on the most promising drug in treating Alzheimer's disease is set to be unveiled later. The first hints a drug can slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease have emerged at a conference.
Researchers will reveal results of studies into the use of solanezumab, which patients and scientists hope could be the first medication to slow the pace of brain decline. Data from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly suggests its solanezumab drug can cut the rate of the dementia's progression by about a third.
Existing drugs help with symptoms but nothing stops the death of brain cells. The results are being met with cautious optimism, with a separate trial due to report next year.
Dr Eric Karran, from Alzheimer's Research UK, said the drug could prove to be "hugely significant". The death of brain cells in Alzheimer's is currently inexorable. Solanezumab may be able to keep them alive.
Details of studies into the use of solanezumab will be given at a conference in Washington. Current medication, such as Aricept, can only manage the symptoms of dementia by helping the dying brain cells function.
The drug - which has been the great hope of dementia research - targets deformed proteins called amyloid that build up in the brain during Alzheimer's. But solanezumab attacks the deformed proteins, called amyloid, that build up in the brain during Alzheimer's.
It is thought the formation of sticky plaques of amyloid between nerve cells leads to damage and eventually brain cell death.It is thought the formation of sticky plaques of amyloid between nerve cells leads to damage and eventually brain cell death.
Trials of the drug seemingly ended in failure in 2012. Silver lining
However, when the US company Eli Lilly looked more closely at the data, there were hints it could be working for patients in the earliest stages of the disease. Solanezumab has long been the great hope of dementia research, yet an 18-month trial of the drug seemingly ended in failure in 2012.
Those people have continued to take the drugs and results on how they have progressed are due to be revealed later at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference. But when Eli Lilly looked more closely at the data, there were hints it could be working for patients in the earliest stages of the disease.
It is known that these drugs are not stopping, halting or curing dementia. So the company asked just over 1,000 of the patients in the original trial with mild Alzheimer's to take the drug for another two years.
The closer analysis of the 2012 data showed that all patients continued their cognitive decline - but seemingly at a slower pace in those taking the drugs. And the results from this extension of the original trial have now been presented, at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.
Yet developing a drug that just slows the pace of dementia would be regarded by experts as a groundbreaking moment. Dr Eric Siemers, from the Lilly Research Laboratories, in Indiana, told the BBC: "It's another piece of evidence that solanezumab does have an effect on the underlying disease pathology.
Estimates suggest that delaying the onset of dementia by five years would reduce the number of cases by a third. "We think there is a chance that solanezumab will be the first disease-modifying medication to be available."
'Slower by about 30%' The company also started a completely separate trial in mild patients in 2012, and these results could prove to be the definitive moment for the drug.
Data being released on Wednesday could represent a step closer to that breakthrough drug, but the critical moment will be a fresh clinical trial expected to report next year. Potential breakthrough
The idea that amyloid is the main culprit in Alzheimer's is still hotly debated so promising drug trial data would also hint that scientists are at least on the right track. Dr Eric Karran, the director of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, told the BBC News website: "If this gets replicated, then I think this is a real breakthrough in Alzheimer's research.
The Alzheimer's Society says there are 850,000 people with dementia in the UK - with Alzheimer's affecting 62% of those diagnosed. "Then, for the first time, the medical community can say we can slow Alzheimer's, which is an incredible step forward.
Dr Karran, who previously worked for Eli Lilly, said there was no suggestion the drug would "cure" dementia. "These data need replicating, this is not proof, but what you can say is it is entirely consistent with a disease-modifying effect.
But he said the rate of deterioration in people tested was "slower by about 30%" compared to those who did not use the drug. "We've never ever had evidence that we can affect the disease process."
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This was the first time that we have seen a benefit that really looked like it was disease-modifying." Clare Walton, the research manager at the Alzheimer's Society, told the BBC: "The data hints that the antibodies are having an effect, it is promising and it's better than no effect, but it's inconclusive.
Further studies will look at people at risk of developing the disease, he added, saying "it could well be that the earlier you go in the disease process the greater the benefit will be". "After a decade of no treatments and many drug failures, it's exciting to get promising news, but it doesn't really tell us either way, and we need to wait for the phase-three study, and that is in 18 months."
But he said it could be "several years" before the drug is widely available to patients. How much benefit?
In the first stage of the original trial, which ended in failure, half of the patients with Alzheimer's were given solanezumab and half were not.
A reanalysis of the cognition scores of the patients with mild Alzheimer's suggested taking the drug had cut the rate of the disease's progression by about 34%.
The implication is that the amount of cognitive decline normally seen in 18 months would take 24 months with the drug.
In the extension of the original trial, all of the 1,000-plus mild Alzheimer's patients participating were given solanezumab.
So, at the end of the extension, half of them had been taking the drug for three and a half years while the other half had been taking it for two years.
The latest data shows those taking solanezumab for the longest time still had better scores of cognitive function.
This suggests the course of the disease was being slowed.
If the patients' brains had continued to decline at the normal pace and the drug had been merely helping with symptoms, then all of the patients participating in the extension of the original trial - whether they had been taking solanezumab for three and a half or two years - would have had similar scores of cognitive function.
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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