alzheimers news-a game changer

ALZHEIMERS NEWS-A GAME CHANGER
first a few years ago i had an infant that i cared for that
developed seizures that were difficult to control
imagine having a baby having seizures you cant stop
they tried the usual meds
but they didnt work


a new medicine called keppra had just came on the market
since she was at childrens hospital they used it on her
it worked
after 2 years she tapered off it and has been seizure free since

this drug is now available in its generic form levetiracetam
in a study recently low doses were given of 62.5 mg to 125 mgm
twice a day
for seizure control 500 mgm twice a day is given up to
3000 mgm a day

this low dose was given to patients with
mild cognitive impairment amnestic type
thats my official diagnosis

the results were that their memory tests improved significantly
meaning
that patients with this diagnosis could have their memory
improved with this generic drug

bring it on is what i say

now
the game changer

inside the brain of someone that has alzheimers disease
and
even years before symptoms start
the bad stuff beta amyloid starts to accumulate

it is easily seen on a amyvid pet scan like this one
thats all the red stuff on the scans

now
several companies have developed new drugs
that i call the alzheimers vaccines
using antibodies to capture that bad stuff beta amyloid
in the brain and removing it

there are several large studies going on right now
in patients with positive scans with no symptoms
in patients with the dominant gene
in patients with mild cognitive impairment
in patients with mild alzheimers and moderate alzheimers

a company called biogen has one called aducanumab
it was given to 166 patients in a phase 1 study who had early
alzheimers disease and positive amyloid scans

they were followed up to 41/2 years
the higher the dose used the better the results

the placebo group who received fake stuff
had no decrease in the amyloid on the scans or improvement
on memory tests

the treatment groups especially the higher dose
showed a decrease in the beta amyloid in the brain that was
seen on the brain scans
that correlated with
an improvement in the memory tests

this was significant

what this means is
the alzheimers vaccine seems to work by removing the
bad stuff amyloid
thats seen on scans
and
the patients memory improves noticeably at the same time

this is what we want right

so
the company is skipping phase 2 studies and are going
straight to phase 3 studies on a much larger group of folks

phase 3 is the stage that really proves if it works or not
then if it does it gets fda approval for
treatment of alzheimers disease

if it works
these drugs will be given to folks at high risk for alzheimers
years before the disease shows up as symptoms
slowing down the disease process
or
if we are lucky
preventing it

this folks is a real
game changer

i will be first in line for this one for sure

the organicgreen doctor