Drug study shows Alzheimer’s promise
CHICAGO – However far off a cure may be for Alzheimer’s disease, Baxter International Inc.’s announcement Tuesday that a small-scale study showed progress in improving memory function in elderly patients is the latest indication that drug companies and the government are pushing hard to find treatments for an insidious and costly disease.
Just as momentum built in the 1990s in the fight against AIDS, researchers have identified several potential avenues to follow in the search to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, with the National Institutes of Health putting money toward several projects, including Baxter’s.
There is neither a cure nor is there an approved treatment that will change the course of the disease as there is for AIDS today; there are only some pills that slow the worsening of symptoms for about half the individuals who take them, experts say.
It is hoped that the use of Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter’s drug Gammagard, currently used as an intravenous immune system treatment, and other drugs that work similarly to bolster immune systems, would actually slow or even stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
The 24-patient study represents a preliminary step forward, and a small one since hundreds of patients can be needed for some drugs to win approval. But researchers believe Baxter’s drug has one advantage in that it already is established as safe, since the product has been used for years to treat patients with immune system disorders.
“This is really the beginning of a new era,” said Dr. David Bennett, professor of neurological sciences and director of the Rush Alzheimer’s Diseases Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
The idea behind the Baxter drug is that the immune system can potentially clear the brain of a protein fragment that builds up and is deemed key in the development and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Other companies are studying antibody therapies, including a joint venture between New Jersey drug giant Wyeth and Ireland-based Elan Corp. It is pursuing a new drug that analysts consider further along in the research process.
In addition, companies ranging from pharmaceutical giants to small biotech companies are looking at older classes of anti-inflammatories and cholesterol-lowering statins to boost the immune response against the disease, which affects nearly 5 million Americans.
Baxter’s trial of 24 patients shows that 16 patients on Baxter’s Gammagard had a better cognitive response than eight patients on a placebo. Neither Baxter nor researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, which is leading the Gammagard trial, would release specific results of the Phase II trial. They are expected to be published in medical journals, perhaps by the end of this year.