Thursday, July 12, 2012

Cure Or Bust For Alzheimers?

From the San Francisco Chronicle: We're about to find out if there will be a way anytime soon to slow the course of Alzheimer's disease. Results are due within a month or so from key studies of two drugs that aim to clear the sticky plaque gumming up patients' brains.
A pivotal study of a third drug will end later this year, and results from a small, early test of it will be reported next week at an Alzheimer's conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.
These three treatments are practically the "last men standing" in late-stage trials, after more than a decade of failed efforts to develop a drug to halt the mind-robbing disease. Current medicines such as Aricept and Namenda just temporarily ease symptoms. There is no known cure.
Experts say that if these fail, drug companies may pull out of the field in frustration, leaving little hope for the millions of people with the disease. An estimated 35 million people worldwide have dementia, which includes Alzheimer's. In the United States, experts say about 5 million have Alzheimer's.
 http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Alzheimer-s-disease-3-new-drugs-may-be-final-hope-3700517.php
As a former nurse's aide who used to  work with Alzheimer's patients who were at the end stage and with my father who had Alzheimer's before he died about a year ago, I have seen the damage this horrible disease has caused.
I hope these drugs help, otherwise, it may take years or decades, if not longer, before they find a cure for this horrible disease.

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