Alzheimer’s breakthrough gives real hope

When I first heard about a potential breakthrough in finding a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease last night, I was sceptical.

I’ve banged on about this in previous blogs, but in recent weeks it seems every day has brought new stories of potential treatments for Alzheimer’s or ways to stop it developing in the first place. From properties in blood pressure or cholesterol control drugs (promising), through tomatoes and tea (doubtful) to a helmet that bathes the user in infra-red light (downright odd) it seems anything and everything could be the key.

So many theories left me jaded and cynical; it seemed no-one really had any concrete clues as to what could treat the condition.

But this changed last night.

British scientists say a drug called rember can stop Alzheimer’s progressing by as much as 81%. There are hopes it could even stop the condition in its early stages, before symptoms appear.

Crucially, rember targets the ‘tangles’ in the brain of someone with Alzheimer's that destroy nerve cells and lead to a deterioration in memory and can bring the worst affected parts back to functional life. While not reversing the condition, it does seem to virtually halt its progress

By addressing the tangles, seemingly with success – although the trial was only on 321 people – it goes to the crux of the condition and genuinely seems to offer an effective treatment that could extend the functional life of people with Alzheimer's by years.

While my optimism is tempered by the facts that it could still be several years before the drug is ready to bring to market, and even then there is no guarantee it will be available on the NHS – remember NICE’s decision on Aricept [see Dementia: restricted access to drugs ] - it is nonetheless the most concrete evidence yet that finally the trauma of dementia could be on the way to being beaten.