People suffering from the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease are getting access to a revolutionary drug that is being hailed as a potential cure.
The drug, Xananamem, works by blocking the production of intracellular cortisol by inhibiting the 11β-HSD1 enzyme in the brain.
Taken in a tablet, scientists at Actinogen Medical – the company behind the drug – have described the drug as ‘exercise in a pill’.
Dementia affected an estimated 55.2 million people worldwide in 2020, 60 to 70 percent of whom had Alzheimer’s disease.
Together with increasing longevity, recent studies suggest that this number is expected to grow to 139 million by 2050, with the largest increases in low- and middle-income countries.
Chronic elevated cortisol levels in the blood and brain have long been reported to be associated with cognitive impairment.
Doctor Steven Gourlay, CEO of Actinogen, told Daily Mail Australia that a trial is underway in Australia and the United States with 220 participants.
The trial will evaluate the effectiveness of Xanamem in Alzheimer’s patients with mild to moderate conditions.
Participants will take a daily dose of 10 mg for 36 weeks, with clinical endpoints assessing cognitive and functional outcomes.
A positron emission tomography (PET) scan of the human brain
Results from an earlier study have already suggested that the drug could be ‘the holy grail’ of Alzheimer’s treatments.
History shows that most people are not tested for Alzheimer’s until they notice their short-term memory deterioration.
“People are starting to play puzzles and do things that will hopefully keep their minds fit, but exercise has been proven to be the best method to delay Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr Gourlay said.
‘But the holy grail for Alzheimer’s disease is that if people notice significant short-term memory loss early on, they can go to a memory clinic or a specialist, get a diagnosis and receive a safe and effective, easy-to-use therapy that will essentially stop its progress. complete.
‘In other words, the hope is that these patients with early Alzheimer’s can potentially lead healthy, stable lives. It appears that some cancers are now completely treatable and HIV is completely treatable and people are dying from HIV in old age.
“The hope is that Alzheimer’s disease could be like that too.”
While that world doesn’t currently exist, Dr. Gourlay says the new drug is close to proving it can do just that.
Although a drug for Alzheimer’s disease has been marketed as a “memory booster” for two decades, its effects are not long-lasting and have several side effects.
New medications that give patients intravenous drugs every few weeks are known to cause the brain to swell and slow progression somewhat, Dr. Gourlay said.
“When doctors use these medications, they can’t actually tell whether the medication is working because it has such a mild effect,” he said.
Doctor Steven Gourlay, CEO of Actinogen, believes his scientists have created the ‘Holy Grail’ of Alzheimer’s treatment
Xananamem is a once-daily pill that has already been tested safely in more than 400 people.
“What we saw in an analysis of patients with progressive, mild Alzheimer’s disease is a very large effect on slower progression than has ever been seen with any other drug,” said Dr. Gourlay.
That result must be confirmed before the pill comes onto the market. That is why a new trial is now underway.
The trial will last nine months and compare results between participants taking the active drug and participants given a sugar pill.
‘Half gets the medicine and the other half gets the placebo. The doctors and the patients don’t know which is which and we do a lot of assessments to gauge their basic capabilities. We measure that about every three months over the course of the clinical trial to make sure we can understand whether our drug significantly slows progression compared to the placebo group,” said Dr. Gourlay.
The company has already seen a dramatic slowing of that progression in previous tests in the same patients – albeit in tests over a shorter period of time and in a smaller number of participants.
‘Essentially, this drug has a unique mechanism of action: it controls the stress hormone cortisol which is known to be strongly associated with Alzheimer’s disease and with its progression, and by doing that it really has the distinct ability to, if not the Holy Grail, then to be. a big part of the Holy Grail,” said Dr. Gourlay.
The terrible effect of Alzheimer’s disease on the human brain
Scientists hope the pill will help people already stuck in the nightmare of full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.
‘We test in patients with both mild and moderate Alzheimer’s. “By the time you reach Alzheimer’s, you’ll need quite a bit of home support from your family or professional caregivers, or you’ll need to look into a nursing home,” said Dr. Gourlay.
‘It is still too early to say whether the drug will be equally effective for moderate or mild symptoms, but we are investigating that and the hope is that it will work for both.’
Dr. Gourlay said the brain has the ability to regenerate.
‘We like to think that this drug is a cure, meaning patients can return to normal memory, but I think that’s a bit optimistic. “I think the Holy Grail here is to stop the progress and then allow people to spend their older years independently at home,” he said.
The drug could even be useful for people who don’t suffer from early dementia, such as common drinking hounds.
“Too much drinking can give you dementia, I’m afraid to tell you that,” said Dr. Gourlay.
“This drug probably helps prevent brain cell loss to some extent, but the simple answer is that you can probably do better things on the boozehound front than this drug.”
If the latest trial is successful as expected, Dr Gourlay said the pill could hit the market as early as 2027 if regulators approve it as a priority.
It is predicted that once on the market, ordinary people will undergo genetic testing in anticipation of identifying a gene linked to Alzheimer’s disease, with the intention of jumping on the pill as soon as possible.
‘There is no point in testing for Alzheimer’s if there is no treatment, but the hope is that you can do that and if you are at risk you should have a blood test, like you might screen for bowel cancer, and if that starts to rise, maybe get some brain scans and start treatment,” Dr Gourlay said.
People can participate in the trial here.