Medical Breakthrough '08: Promising Drugs for Treating Alzheimer's

The new medications are hopeful memory keepers in the fight against Alzheimer's.

Some 1,200 Americans develop Alzheimer’s every day. Dozens of drugs to fight the devastating effects are in clinical trials. Two look especially promising:
PRX-03140
Designed to treat memory loss and other symptoms, this drug from EPIX Pharmaceuticals changed the brain wave activity in trial patients. In just two weeks, they scored better on memory tests and were more engaged. One was even able to speak in full sentences again.
Available: 5 years

Flurizan
This one, now finishing clinical trials, may attack the underlying causes of the disease. From Myriad Genetics, it reduces proteins that form plaque buildup between brain cells, possibly slowing or even stopping further damage.
Available: 1 year

Researchers expect future treatments to be a combination of drugs that attack the disease at different stages, much like the current approach to fighting AIDS and cancer.

From Reader's Digest - March 2008

 

• • National Health Care
• Healthy Heart
• • Anti-Aging

• Medical Breakthroughs for 2008
• New hope for cancer, diabetes, dementia and more.
• 
• Brain Biology: Memory Genes
• A wave of recent advances shows how the mind affects health in ways we never imagined.
• 
• 7 Ways to Make Your Brain Better, Faster, Smarter
• Make your brain better, faster, and smarter with these easy tips.
• 
• Woman Cares for Dad With Alzheimer's
• A reporter takes on her toughest assignment: caring for Dad.
• 

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