fixaging

One promising potential treatment for Alzheimer’s has been developing over the past few years. This is using a vaccine to reduce the level of beta-amyloid. Beta-amyloid is found to be in high quantities in patients with Alzheimer’s and is theorised to be the main cause of Alzheimer’s. This treatment trains the immune system to recognize and attack beta-amyloid. A compound by Elan named AN-1792 showed promising results in animal models of the disease, and initial human trials where also positive, however development has now stopped as 6% of patients had an averse immune response. The final report into AN-1792 can be found here The results indicated that the treatment reduced the effect of Alzheimer’s.

Elan is now working on a similar compound AAB-001 which they hope will cause a smaller immune response. They are entering into Phase 3 clinical trials. The results of the phase 2 trials will not be done until 2008, however the fact that Elan are going ahead with Phase 3 suggests that it is performing well in Phase 2.

AAB-001 is not the only compound out there, here is an extract from Elan’s fourth quarter report about other compounds which Elan (with partners) has in the pipeline:

Elan, in conjunction with its partners, is moving three compounds for mild to moderate AD through clinical trials: Bapineuzumab (AAB-001), ACC-001, and ELND-005. In distinct ways, these three compounds target A-beta peptide, which is presumed to be a key toxic mediator in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.

With Bapineuzumab (AAB-001, a humanized monoclonal antibody against A-beta peptide), Elan and Wyeth plan to initiate global Phase 3 clinical trials by year-end, Phase 2 studies are ongoing (publicly available data anticipated mid-2008), and Phase 1 trials are underway with a subcutaneous formulation. ACC-001 (an active A-beta immunotherapeutic conjugate), also partnered with Wyeth, is progressing in Phase 2 studies in both Europe and the United States.

Next update on this treatment: 2008

Tags: Alzheimer's //