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New Alzheimer’s drug enters trial stage

A new drug developed at Lancaster University that may help to prevent the early stages of Alzheimer's disease is to enter clinical trials. The number of people with dementia is steadily increasing and the most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. It begins when a protein called beta-amyloid forms senile plaques that start to clump together in the brain, damaging nerve cells and leading to memory loss and confusion.

Dr David Allsop, professor of neuroscience, and Dr Mark Taylor, from the faculty of health and medicine, have developed a new drug which in laboratory tests reduces the number of these senile plaques and the amount of brain inflammation and oxidative damage associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Lancaster University has filed a patent application for the drug, and it will be progressing into clinical trials run by the north-west research company MAC Clinical Research. If it passes regulatory hurdles, the ultimate aim is to give the drug to people with mild symptoms of memory loss.

Allsop said: "It is encouraging that our drug is being taken forward and will be tested on humans. Many people who are mildly forgetful may go on to develop the disease because senile plaques start forming years before any symptoms manifest themselves. The ultimate aim is to give the drug at that stage, to stop any more damage to the brain." Allsop was the first scientist to isolate senile plaques from the human brain.

Dr James Pickett, head of research at the UK Alzheimer's Society, which currently funds the research, said: "There's a tremendous need for new treatments that can stop the development of dementia in its tracks. Trials in people are an essential step in the development of any new drug so it’s really positive to see this promising research being taken forward."

[link url="http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/articles/2015/new-alzheimers-drug-to-enter-clinical-trials/"]University of Lancaster material[/link]

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