Clinical trials of a drug against Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's drug will be tested on a risk group
The tests announced by representatives of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) will begin in 2013 and will cover about five thousand people, members of an extensive family living in the Andes, in the department of Antioquia, Colombia, including in the capital of the department, Medellin.
A rare hereditary form of Alzheimer's disease has been found in this family, which is associated with a genetic mutation that causes the development of the disease at an early age, by the age of 40.
In addition, several people from the USA – carriers of a similar mutation - will take part in the tests.
"The number one task is to help Colombian families, but it would be good if we could help people in other countries as well," says Richard Scheller, executive vice president of research at Roche Group–owned Genentech Inc., which is based in San Francisco.
The study is part of the White House Administration's strategic plan to develop an effective method of treating and preventing Alzheimer's disease by 2025. This diagnosis has already been made to 5.4 million Americans, and the number of patients could grow to 7.7 million by 2030 as baby boomers age, people born during the period of a sharp increase in the birth rate after World War II.
The drug, which will be tested for five years, is called crenezumab and is an antibody capable of attacking the beta-amyloid protein, clusters of which form the so-called amyloid plaques that form in the brains of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
By testing this drug, scientists will test the amyloid theory of the development of the disease, which, being the most popular, is nevertheless not accepted as indisputable. This theory suggests that the disease develops as a result of the accumulation of aggregates of beta-amyloid proteins.
Clinical trials of crenezumab will be conducted Banner Institute for the Study of Alzheimer's Disease in Phoenix, Arizona on a grant allocated by the NIH. The grant amount is $16 million. The Banner Institute has pledged another $15 million from philanthropic funds, but the main amount — $ 65 million — is allocated by Genentech.
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