A PRELIMINARY trial of a new drug for Alzheimer's disease has found that it improves some aspects of cognitive function in patients with early dementia, but does not have a beneficial effect on memory loss.
Results of the study on the drug PBT2, published yesterday in The Lancet Neurology,show it is safe in humans. But the trial of 78 patients from Sweden and Australia, followed up for a 12-week period, found no difference in memory function among those who received PBT2 and patients given a placebo (dummy pill).
PBT2 is designed to reduce the accumulation of a protein called amyloid, which builds up into plaques in the brain and is thought to be toxic to brain cells. Levels of amyloid in the spinal fluid of patients given 250 milligrammes of the drug as part of the research were reduced by 13 per cent compared with patients prescribed a placebo.
Alzheimer's affects 25 per cent of people over 80. An estimated 40,000 people in the Republic live with some form of dementia.