New form of Alzheimer's therapy is set to be safety tested on people

Alzheimer’s therapy which may promote brain cell creation in animals is set to be safety tested on humans.

A therapy has been approved to be tested on humans which could form the basis of a treatment for Alzheimer’s.

Scientists are testing the therapy which has so far been found to promote brain cell creation and improve cognitive function in animals.

Following extensive tests on animals, scientists will now carry out a human trial to see if the drug is safe for people to use.

Dr Doug Brown, director of research and development said: “Cell regeneration may sound like the plot of a sci-fi film but the hope here is that it could one day form the real life basis for valuable Alzheimer’s treatments. We are still a long way from knowing whether this will actually happen. However, establishing whether, and in what doses, it is safe for people to take this compound, is an important stepping stone in developing treatments.

“There are 800,000 people with dementia in the UK and this number is expected to reach a million within ten years. If we are to develop new treatments and ultimately a cure, it is vital that dementia research is given the investment it so desperately needs.”

The trial will test how people with Mild Cognitive Impairment and mild Alzheimer’s react to varying doses of the drug over a 12 week period.

It is hoped that this will establish a safe and tolerable dose to administer to humans in the future. The announcement of the approval for human testing was made at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2013 in Boston.

During the conference research was also presented which revealed that boosting cells in the brain which help to reduce inflammation could help to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

It is thought that the drug used in recent tests successfully reduced inflammation in the brain, which is one of the causes of many forms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr Brown commented on the research and said: "This interesting study looks at a drug designed to boost the brain’s own first line of defence against inflammation, which is a key cause of the damage we see in dementia. If we can reduce the amount of brain inflammation we may be able to not only slow progression of dementia, but potentially stop it in its tracks.

"Participants saw an improvement in cognition across the board, but more interestingly the drug was even more effective in people with a higher genetic risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Larger trials are needed to confirm these initial findings and test safety.”

The study involved 74 people with Mild Cognitive Impairment taking a drug which stimulates cells in the brain and testing whether the drug improved their performance in cognitive tasks such as word recall and other measures of mental functions over a 64 week period.

The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference will be visited by scientists from all over the world throughout the week to share new knowledge and collaborate in an effort to advance the discovery of scientific breakthroughs that could lead to a treatment and cure for Alzheimer’s.