Study Done in Part at U of R Shows Approach to Alzheimer's Treatment is Effective ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - Researchers studying Alzheimer's disease call it a real step forward. A pharmaceutical company has announced the first successful large-scale study of a drug that helps fight the cause of Alzheimer's rather than just the symptoms.

One of the sites for that study was the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Doctor Anton Porsteinsson is associate professor of psychiatry there. He says Alzheimer's is caused by buildup of a protein called amyloid beta in the brain. It forms clusters called "plaques and tangles" that inferfere with brain function, causing memory loss and the other symptoms of Alzheimers.

Tuesday's announcement comes from Elan Pharmaceuticals which hopes to have a commercial drug on the market in about four years.

Porsteinsson says the drug -- called bapineuzumab -- tweaks the body's immune system to help stop that buildup. It helps the immune system remove the amyloid protein from the brain and eventually expel it from the body.

Porsteinsson says a number of research teams are working on this approach to fighting disease, but this is the first large-scale study to show that it actually works in the human body.

A larger Phase Three study is now being organized and the University of Rochester will once again take part. Information for those interested is available at 760-6550 or at the
U of R Medical Center website.

Porsteinsson says the success of this approach raises the possibility at some time in the future of a vaccine to prevent Alzheimer's disease, as well as therapeutic drugs to fight the disease once it's diagnosed. He says that's the "holy grail" in fighting Alzheimer's, because people have typically had the disease for years before it's diagnosed.

Doctor Porsteinsson says the study shows bapineuzumab works best on people with milder versions of the disease and a certain genetic makeup. Further research is being done on that and how to work around it.

He says an on-the-shelf therapy based on the new approach to treating Alzheimer's is three-and-a-half to four years away because the studies take so long to conduct and analyze.


* Dr. Anton Porsteinsson's name is pronounced THOR stin sin.

* The drug bapineuzumab is bap uh NOOZ uh mahb.


© Copyright 2010, WXXI