Alfred Health News

New clinical trials to treat Alzheimer's Disease offer real hope, according to Associate Professor Stephen Macfarlane, Caulfield Hospital's Director of Aged Psychiatry.

Caulfield Hospital is one of a number of sites worldwide involved in this new research. The new trial is one of the first to approach and treat the cause of Alzheimer's Disease, rather than temporarily just managing the symptoms, which is the limitation of the currently available  treatments for dementia at present.

The Eli Lilly funded research is involving 2000 patients worldwide and eight sites in Australia, including Caulfield Hospital, are participating in the research. Caulfield Hospital has recruited the most participants so far in Australia, with eight participants.

The research, which began in July last year, involves attacking amyloid - a protein widely thought to cause Alzheimer's Disease. Participants are receiving monthly infusions of an antibody (a protein that recognises amyloid as an invader that needs to be removed). The infused antibody then allows excretion of the protein, with the aim being to slow or arrest the progress of Alzheimer's Disease.

With an ageing population, the prevalence of dementia has increased in the Australian population.

The chances of developing dementia increase markedly from around 2 in 100  in those aged 65-69 years to one in four in those aged over 85 years.

So far there has been over 500 infusions of the antibody worldwide and although there are no official early results, the Caulfield team has received some positive comments from participants.

"The early results are encouraging and I am very hopeful that this type of research will prove to be a meaningful advance in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease," A/Prof Macfarlane said.

"One of our patients has reported being able to focus clearly again and has been able to return to his genealogical research.

 "This is the first time a research trial of this size has used an antibody such as this. There has been some previous work targeting the amyloid protein but this is the first to look at removing it in this particular way.

"Treatment of established disease is harder to achieve than prevention. Once symptoms of dementia have appeared, a lot of damage has already been done to the brain and it's difficult to repair this damage. But we're hoping we can reduce any ongoing damage and slow down the disease.

"Targeting this protein holds promise in prevention in years to come - if we can remove the protein before any damage is done - that is the holy grail."

Half of those in the trial are on a placebo, receiving a saline solution. Following the end of the trial, all participants will have the opportunity to be infused with the antibody for up to two years.

The trial will finish in mid 2012.

This research is the first done under a new clinical trials group formed within the Aged Psychiatry unit at Caulfield Hospital. More research studies will be carried out within this group in coming months.