Diabetes drug could hold back Alzheimer’s, New Study

A previous study found diabetes drug liraglutide may reverse some damage caused in later phases of the disease

Patients over 50 with early Alzheimer’s are now being recruited for the research which is taking place between Addenbrooke’s and Fulbourn Hospital and being co-ordinated locally by Dr Ben Underwood, from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.

It follows the groundbreaking study led by Professor Christian Hölscher at Lancaster University, published in September 2013 which found the diabetic drug Liraglutide might be able to reverse some of the damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease in the later stages of the condition.

Mice with late-stage Alzheimer’s given the drug performed significantly better on an object recognition test and their brains showed a 30 per cent reduction in the build-up of toxic plaques.

The discovery was so important the Alzheimer’s Society and other charities agreed to fund the £5million trial to test the effectiveness of the drug in people with Alzheimer’s disease involving about 200 patients from across the UK.

Dr Paul Edison, Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London and Consultant Physician at Hammersmith Hospital who is leading the study, said if successful, the drug will make a massive difference to Alzheimer’s patients.

“We’re hoping this will improve their memory function in people and their quality of life,” he said.

“And that their memory will improve. We’re hoping we will be able to delay the progression of the disease.”

Dr Edison said the discovery was made after scientists found a link between Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

“There is evidence that shows there’s a mechanism in the brain of patients with diabetes which is the same in patients with Alzheimer’s,” he said. “We saw there’s about 70-80 per cent increase risk of people with diabetes getting Alzheimer’. That’s it emerged.

“What we are doing in the laboratory was, seeing if we were to use the same treatment used for diabetes and whether it improves the symptoms to treat Alzehimer’s. We saw a significant improvement in memory and there were improvements in brain function.”

The multi-centre study is also involving patients from King’s College London, Oxford, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and Southhampton.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. The condition is caused by diseases of the brain and is characterised by the slow death of brain cells. It is progressive, there are few effective treatments and as yet there is no cure.

If these trials are successful, Liraglutide would be the first new dementia treatment in a decade and the most significant breakthrough since the Alzheimer’s Society was founded in 1979.

“I think it will dramatically change the treatment which they are getting at the moment,” added Dr Edison.

“There are not many treatments available. Most of the drugs which are now available and are being tested will take years to come to market as they all need to go through various stages of study.

“If this works, there’s no market testing to be done because it’s already being used in patients with diabetes. It’s like taking insulin.”

Agencies/Canadajournal