Development of Alzheimer's Disease Treatment Halted

By Elizabeth Stannard Gromisch HERWriter

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In the Alzheimer's Association's 2010 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures, the organization notes that 5.3 million people in the United States have the disease. Women are also more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than men. In a graph based on numbers from the Aging, Demographics and Memory Study, the Alzheimer's Association reports that 16 percent of women ages 71 and over have Alzheimer's disease, compared to 11 percent of men in that same age group.

The symptoms of Alzheimer's disease grow progressively worse. For example, MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, points out that language symptoms of Alzheimer's disease start with patients having trouble finding the name for an object they use often, such as a key. By the mid-stage of the disease, patients have problems reading and writing and speak in confusing sentences. When patients reach the advanced stage of Alzheimer's disease, they no longer can understand language. Alzheimer's disease also affects other important cognitive functions, such as memory, judgment and thinking.

No cure exists for Alzheimer's disease. The MayoClinic.com notes that two types of drugs slow down the cognitive decline from Alzheimer's disease: cholinesterase inhibitors, such as galantamine, donepezil and rivastigmine, and memantine. Pharmaceutical companies continue to look for new medications that can slow the symptoms of the disorder. But the Baltimore Sun reports that the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co. has halted the development of a new drug for Alzheimer's disease. The drug, semagacestat, which is a gamma secretase inhibitor, performed worse that a placebo, according to preliminary results.

Alzheimer's Disease Research, a program of the American Health Assistance Foundation, explains that the Phase III trials of the drug looked at the effects of semagacestat compared to a placebo in over 2,600 Alzheimer's disease patients. The patients in the study had mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. These trials found that patients who took semagacestat performed significantly worse when performing daily tasks or using cognitive skills when compared to patients taking the placebo. Patients taking semagacestat for the trials will stop taking the drug immediately. While the development of the drug is halted, Eli Lilly and Co. will continue to evaluate the participants for at least six months. Alzheimer's Disease Research adds that the cessation of semagacestat development will not affect the other Eli Lilly and Co. Alzheimer's disease drug in Phase III trials: solanezumab, which has a different mechanism.

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