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NIH Tests Memory Drug
http://www.reutershealth.com/news/rhdn/199702/1997021203.html
NEW YORK, Feb 12 (Reuters) -- Government researchers are about to
begin testing a memory-boosting drug in people with Alzheimer's
disease.
As reported previously on Health eLine, earlier safety studies of
the compound ampakine CX-516 showed it dramatically increased the
scores on memory tests taken by healthy volunteers, ages 65 to
73.
Beginning this week, the compound moves into another testing
arena. National Institute of Health (NIH) researchers will try to
determine if it will improve memory and overall mental
functioning of Alzheimer's disease patients.
"We're about to launch a clinical trial on CX-516, an ampakine
compound designed to alleviate the symptoms of Alzheimer's
disease, says Dr. Thomas N. Chase, head of experimental
therapeutics at the National Institute of Neurological Diseases
and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland.
"We will try to assess efficacy (effectiveness) and safety, or
tolerability, of the compound in the target population," he
explains.
"This is an approach toward neurotransmitter replacement in
Alzheimer's disease," says Chase.
He notes that such strategies work well in Parkinson's disease
where the missing neurotransmitter, dopamine, is replaced by the
compound levodopa. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that help
transmit impulses from one brain cell (neuron) to another.
"In Alzheimer's disease there are several neurotransmitters whose
function is reduced because the neurons that make the transmitter
and release it are degenerating," Chase explains.
The researcher points out that one of these chemicals is
acetylcholine, and that the two drugs now on the market attempt
to prevent its breakdown, known as "chemical degradation."
These drugs are Cognex (tacrine) and Aricept (donepezil
hydrochloride). "The problem with those drugs is that they're not
very effective," says Chase. "The effect size is relatively small
and many patients do not gain enough benefit from the drugs to be
really worth the effort."
Chase explains that the use of ampakines involves yet another
neurotransmitter which is characteristically defective or reduced
in Alzheimer's disease -- glutamate.
"Glutamate stimulates a number of different kinds of
neurotransmitter receptors in the brain, and the ampakine we're
studying mimics the effects of the defective or missing
neurotransmitter, glutamate," Chase explains.
The new study will begin with about 10 Alzheimer's patients. "It
will take about three months with each patient," says Chase, "and
we'll probably spend six months or a year doing the trial
depending on our (subject) recruitment."
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