World Alzheimer's Day 2008 Special Report: New Alzheimer Targets Take Center Stage

AlzheimerVideoNewsdebuts with a World Alzheimer's Day 2008 Special Report, discussing the most significant developments which occurred in 2008 in the field of Alzheimer's disease research. The new report, available in both a video news report and in print at AlzheimerVideoNews
, discusses several innovative therapeutics which address emerging new targets in Alzheimer's disease. These new therapeutics have taken center stage in 2008, after the prominent failure of the anti-amyloid investigational drugs tramiprosate(Alzhemed®, Neurochem) and Flurizan® (Myriad Genetics).


The promising new therapeutic agents discussed at ICAD 2008, the world's leading forum on dementia research, and in scientific publications in 2008, included the antihistamine Dimebon® (Medivation, now licensed to Pfizer); Rember®, a reforumulation of methylene blue (TauRX Therapeutics of Singapore); and a novel, off-label method of perispinal administration of etanercept. These agents are all hypothesized to address non-amyloid targets, including the tau tangles found in the brain(Rember®).


Among these agents etanercept is unique, because it was designed to correct an abnormality in the immune system, identified in Alzheimer's disease, which may affect brain function. This abnormality, an excess of the molecule TNF in the cerebrospinal fluid, is hypothesized to interfere with brain cell communication in patients with Alzheimer's disease and related forms of dementia.


AlzheimerVideoNews takes a critical look at the most important news in Alzheimer's research. The AlzheimerVideoNews website includes links to further reports and discussion regarding recent developments in Alzheimer's research. AlzheimerVideoNews is sponsored by the Institute for Neurological Research, a private medical group, inc. in Los Angeles, which has developed the perispinal etanercept anti-TNF strategy for dementia.


References: Doody, R.S., S.I. Gavrilova, M. Sano, R.G. Thomas, P.S. Aisen, S.O. Bachurin, L. Seely, and D. Hung, Effect of dimebon on cognition, activities of daily living, behaviour, and global function in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Lancet, 2008. 372(9634): p. 207-15.


Tobinick, E.L. and H. Gross, Rapid improvement in verbal fluency and aphasia following perispinal etanercept in Alzheimer's disease. BMC Neurol, 2008. 8(1): p. 27.


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