Four Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Address a Variety of Treatment Targets - Amyloid, Tau, Synapse...( - Unsuccessful Phase III Study Do...),Health

- Unsuccessful Phase III Study Does Not Mean the End of Anti-Amyloid Therapies -

CHICAGO, July 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Results from four studies of potential new treatments for Alzheimer's - even an unsuccessful late stage clinical trial - increase the field's knowledge and point scientists toward advances in therapies for the disease, according to research reported today at the 2008 Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2008), in Chicago.

The reports included data from:

-- A Phase III trial of tarenflurbil (Flurizan, Myriad), an anti-amyloid therapy, that failed to achieve its primary endpoints.

-- A 12-week, Phase IIa trial of PBT2 (Prana Biotechnology), which reduces the toxic form of amyloid by preventing the interaction of amyloid with copper and zinc in the brain.

-- A 84-week, Phase II trial of methylthioninium chloride (rember(TM), TauRx Therapeutics), a tau aggregation inhibitor that targets toxic tau aggregates, or "tangles." Tangles of tau in the brain are another characteristic hallmark of Alzheimer's.

-- A proof of concept clinical trial in mild Alzheimer's of Souvenaid (Danone Research-Centre for Specialised Nutrition), a "medical food" product that encourages the formation of brain synapses and may reduce beta amyloid.

"While researchers continue to investigate amyloid as a target for Alzheimer's therapies - it is the most mature theory being pursued - we must also examine other potential avenues given the urgency of conquering this disease," said Samuel Gandy, MD, Ph.D., chair of the Alzheimer's Association's Medical and Scientific Advisory Council. "We can't leave any stone unturned if we hope to aid the 5 million people currently living with Alzheimer's and the millions more that will be devastated by this epidemic."

While currently approved treatment options for Alzheimer's offer some relief of symptoms for perhaps a year or two, they do no
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