New drug against Alzheimer awakens hope for medical professionals

US pharmaceutical company introduces new drug for Alzheimer's
The serious Alzheimer's disease is not curable so far. Instead, the brain's serious brain disease is still associated with massive restrictions in daily life and a gradual loss of personal autonomy. Now, there could be a new quiet hope. For the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly presented at the International Alzheimerkonferenz new study results, after which the antibody "Sola" might possibly delay the course in the initial phase.

Patients gradually lose their mental capacity
Alzheimer's the most common form of dementia, affecting about 50 to 75 percent of those with dementia. It is a brain organic disease in which patients gradually lose their mental capacity. As a result, depending on the stage symptoms such as orientation and speech difficulties, forgetfulness and personality changes occur. Alzheimer's is not curable so far. But there are several medications that can help relieve symptoms and delay disease progression.

New Alzheimer's means raises hopes. Image: Sandor Kacso - fotolia

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly presents new findings at Alzheimer's Conference
But now it could possibly give a new, small glimmer of hope in the fight against the disease, which the psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer described as the "great forgetfulness". This is clear from study results presented by the US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly on Wednesday at this year's Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Washington. Thus, early treatment with the antibody "solanezumab" may reduce the progression of the disease in some patients. The background is that unlike the currently used drugs, the death of the brain cells could under certain circumstances be prevented from the outset, according to the information of the AAIC.

However, the disease can not be completely cured even with this remedy. Nevertheless, in less severe cases, the course could be delayed right from the start, which would be a great step forward in the fight against Alzheimer's at the present time. "The results support the potential benefit of starting treatment with solanezumab sooner rather than later in the course of the disease and suggest that there is a continuing treatment effect in the patients who later received the drug," said Alzheimer's Director Therapeutic Research Institute at the University of Southern California in San Diego, Paul Aisen. (No)