Experimental
drugs to cure Alzheimer’s disease from Roche Holding AG and Eli Lilly &
Co.(NYSE:LLY) have been chosen for a
high-profile medical trial to test if it is possible to stop the disease from
developing in at-risk patients.
Th trial is
expected to begin sometime next year. It is going to enroll 160 patients
internationally with inherited gene mutations that usually result in
Alzheimer’s symptoms when they are in their 30s. Washington University said
this while announcing the selection of drugs on Wednesday.
Studies over
drugs over the past decade have tried and failed to slow progression of
Alzheimer’s among patients, who are undergoing dementia. There is hope of some
triumph in arresting symptoms in patients, who are so highly inclined to
develop the ailment. It will show the way to stop Alzheimer’s in a much wider
population.
A neurologist
from Washington University of Medicine, Dr. Randall Bateman said that the team
is going to work on three different drugs with three different means of action
in order to find out the best method.
Bateman said
over a telephonic interview that half the patients in the trial do not have any
symptoms when the study had started. The rest will have very minor symptoms.
A neurologist
at New York University Langone Medical Center, Dr. James Galvin said that such
a prevention trial that involves people at high hereditary risk of Alzheimer’s
disease would need comparatively few patients and could generate results within
a few years.
Gavin said
that every family has a genetic mutation with a definite age of inception of
ailment, so people can start giving the drug a certain number of years before
the predicted onset.
Around 5
million people in the US and 36 million internationally are believed to have
Alzheimer’s, which happens to be a common type of dementia.
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