Why Do Alzheimer's and Dementia Drugs Fail in Clinical Trials ?

Why do certain Alzheimer medications work in animal models but not in clinical trials in humans?+Alzheimer's Reading Room Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia among older people, yet there currently are no effective drugs to stop, slow or prevent disease progression.Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading RoomEmail: New study explains why promising dementia drugs failed in clinical trialsIn the brains of Alzheimer patients, deposits form that consist essentially of beta-amyloid and are harmful to nerve cells. Scientists are therefore searching for pharmaceutical compounds that prevent the formation of these dangerous aggregates. In animal models, certain non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were found to a reduced formation of harmful beta-amyloid variants. Yet, in subsequent clinical studies, these NSAIDs failed to elicit any beneficial effects. "The reasons for these negative results have remained unclear for a long time", says Prof. Dr. Oliver Brüstle, Director of the Institute for Reconstructive Neurobiology of the University of Bonn and CEO of LIFE & BRAIN GmbH. "Remarkably, these compounds were never tested directly on the actual target cells – the human neuron." Dr. Jerome Mertens, who now works at the Laboratory of Genetics in La Jolla, believes is because, so far, living human neurons have been extremely difficult to obtain. However, with the recent advances in stem cell research it has become possible to derive limitless numbers of ...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - Category: Dementia Authors: Source Type: blogs