Alzheimer’s
disease claims 60% to 70% of cases of dementia. The most common form of
dementia, it is a concerning brain disease that progressively gets worse over
time and is hard to diagnose in its early stages. My father, who’s a doctor,
says that Alzheimer’s is a disease that troubles and confuses even the most
intelligent and respected doctors. A decent size of the elderly population is affected
by the tragic illness that is still not fully understood in the medical field.
Symptoms include memory loss, short term at first and then long term as time
progresses, mood swings, behavioral issues, and the gradual decline of bodily
function. An up and coming pharmaceutical
company has made groundbreaking discoveries that could revolutionize treatment
for those suffering from Alzheimer’s. Biogen Idec is a global biotechnology
company specialized in the development of therapeutic medicine used for
neurodegerative (or the progressive failure of functioning from neurons or
other nervous processes) illnesses based in Cambridge, Massachesetts, has found
new discoveries from experimental studies on patients with Alzheimer’s.
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| Normal brain activity compared to that of a patient with Alzheimer's disease 340 × 191 - abc.net.au |
Biogen, a
David among many pharmaceutical Goliaths, is entering a field among many
medical market juggernauts such as Pfizer Inc. Biogen is competing with
companies that have cost patients a fortune because of the high cost in
treatment and medicinal care. According to ALZ.org, 1 in 9 older Americans has
Alzheimer’s, with 44% of those 74-84 years old suffering from the illness. A simple one-time cure would not do pharmaceutical
companies any good with a sole purpose of profit. Many of these big time
companies, like Pfizer, are criticized for having ill-minded priorities: profit
over overall patient well being. Biogen, however, seems to have a different
philosophy. What’s
interesting is how Biogen selected candidates for it’s experimental clinical
studies of aducanumab. Patients were evaluated and chosen with accuracy in
order to prevent recruitment of patients with other forms of dementia that are
often mistaken for Alzheimer’s. Biogen
was also strict in the sense that they only selected patients that were in the
early stages of Alzheimer’s. Biogen CEO Geroge Scangos said in an interview
that “We images every patient coming into study, so we knew that every patient
had Alzheimer’s disease and (amyoid) plaque.” With this selectiveness with
their experiment, other medical researchers in the neuroscience field will be
reassured that the experiment was conducted with accuracy.
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| Amyloid plaques 526 × 407 - brightfocus.org |
Biogen conducted an 166 patient
trial, four groups and a placebo group, using their own drug called aducanumab.
The treatment was aimed at reducing a brain plaque, which is widely believed to
cause Alzheimer’s. The plaque, called an amyloid, cause unnatural reactions in
the brain which can lead to many different neurodegenerative disorders. While
the reasons for amyloids are unclear, it is known that they disrupt tissue
architecture and disrupt the function of the tissues. The more the drug
increased, the more the amyloid plaque was reduced in the brain. In fact, it
marks the first time that amyloid plaque was reduced from the cause of an
experimental drug according to Biogen. The success was so high that Phase III
trials for the drug are in the works, which could lead to an approval of the
drug. Results were recorded later on in
the course of the trial. Using imaging technology to scan the patients’ brains,
researchers found that plaque levels were unchanged within the placebo group.
For the patients received dosages ranging from 3 milligrams per kilogram of
weight, 6 mg or 10 mg, of aducanumab, plaque reduction was seen at 26 weeks and
later on during testing at 54 weeks.
The experimental trial also used
two other measureable tests for cognition. A 30 point questionnaire used to
rate mental acuteness and an 18 point “Clinical Dementia Rating scale.” The placebo group saw the worst results from
the two groups, with a high decrease of points in both tests. The experimental
groups had a significantly lower decrease in points. The higher the dosage, the
lower the decrease in points.
As medical research advances, the
public’s general hope of experiencing the eradication and cure for Alzheimer’s
disease may finally become a reality. Hopefully the priority of patient care
trumps the desire for profit and stockholder interests. Perhaps other
pharmaceutical companies may follow Biogen’s example and seek the development
of a cure for not only Alzheimer’s but other diseases and illnesses such as HIV
or cancer.
