The Guardian wrote that the Scientists had found that two licensed drugs stopped the degeneration of the brain in mice. The discovery gives hope of success in the search for drugs for the therapy of Alzheimer’s disease.
The results, presented at the annual conference of scientists researching Alzheimer’s disease, were defined as “promising” because the drugs used were already proven safe and well accepted by the human body. This can save years in the process of development and approval of new drugs.
Giovanna Maluchi of Cambridge University said: “This is really exciting. Medicines are licensed. This means that we go directly to the underlying clinical tests on a small group of patients, since no new ingredients, these are known drugs.” The scientists have decided not to disclose the names of the two drugs that are not currently used for the treatment of dementia in order not to cause testing from patients before the clinical trials prove their effectiveness.
The discovery is based on key study conducted two years ago, which proves that the death of brain cells can be stopped in mice by switching off the wrong signal in the brain, stopping the production of new proteins. However, the study had used a composition that causes serious side effects and was not suitable for humans. Both drugs had been identified after Maluchi’s team had examined hundreds of licensed drugs in search of a safe drug with the same protective effect on the brain.
The researchers point out that before the clinical trials a research would be conducted that would confirm that the same error signal, which was treated in mice, caused degeneration and memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease. Maluchi said that if the study would be conducted as soon as possible and would confirm that connection, the clinical trials could begin within a few years.