Study to Look for Ways to Halt Advance of Alzheimer's Disease
Bloomberg News
March 15, 1999, 4:50 p.m. ET
Study to Look for Ways to Halt Advance of Alzheimer's Disease
Washington, March 15 (Bloomberg) -- A new study will examine
whether vitamin E or Eisai Co.'s Aricept, if taken before the
onset of Alzheimer's disease, can delay development of the
disease, researchers said today.
The 720-person study, launched by the National Institute on
Aging, will rely on data published today in Archives of
Neurology, which identified a group of people who have ''mild
cognitive impairment'' -- slight memory loss -- that has not yet
progressed to Alzheimer's.
Patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment are more
likely to progress to Alzheimer's, and the researchers said they
hoped the new study would show ways to stall the progress to the
disease.
''We believe we can begin intervention at an early point,
before individuals develop Alzheimer's disease,'' said Leon Thal,
a professor at the University of California, San Diego and the
principal investigator in the memory study.
Several treatments exist for the symptoms of Alzheimer's
disease once it begins. The new study, in contrast, will try to
establish preventive measures that can keep the disease at bay in
patients whose memories have begun to deteriorate.
The Archives of Neurology study on mild cognitive impairment
is the first to define the state, which falls between normal age-
related memory loss and the dementia associated with Alzheimer's
disease.
Memory Loss
Ronald Peterson, the Mayo Clinic doctor who served as the
principle investigator for the study, said patients suffering
from mild impairment definition have some memory loss, though
they don't show the general confusion and inability to perform
daily tasks that is a symptom of Alzheimer's.
Still, those patients who have mild memory loss are at
increased risk of developing Alzheimer's; 10 to 15 percent of
mild cognitive impairment patients develop Alzheimer's each year,
compared to 1 or 2 percent of those not showing memory loss,
Peterson said.
These findings will be important in deciding which patients
will be appropriate for the National Institute of Aging trials.
''Our ability to identify persons with (mild cognitive
impairment) will allow us to go forward with research aimed at
finding a treatment intervention that can slow or prevent the
development of Alzheimer's disease,'' Peterson said.
The 3-year National Institute on Aging study is expected to
begin within the next year. Patients will be given either vitamin
E, Aricept or a placebo, and researchers will watch whether the
patient's develop Alzheimer's -- and how quickly the disease
emerges.
Role of Vitamin E
The researchers said Vitamin E is thought to stem the
progression to severe dementia or institutionalization by about
seven months in patients already suffering from Alzheimer's.
Aricept, made by Tokyo-based Eisai and sold by Pfizer in the
U.S., is used to treat patients who have already been diagnosed
with Alzheimer's. Patients taking the drug tend to see a
improvement in some symptoms.
The study will be carried out in more than 60 locations
across the U.S. and Canada. Patients between 55 and 90 who meet
the definition of mild cognitive impairment are eligible.
--Brian Reid in Washington (202) 624-1936 /mfr
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