Category Archives: The Clinic

During 2012, there were some big news stories around two drugs that failed at the final stage of clinical testing (phase III). One called bapineuzumab appeared to fail completely, whereas a second called solanezumab did show some benefits in people with mild Alzheimer’s and is being tested further.

Potential new treatments or interventions that make it into clinical trials in people should have a good evidence base behind them. But that still does not guarantee success.

For a new treatment to be licensed for patients, clinical trials need to show that it is safe and makes a measurable improvement to people’s daily lives. It is hugely disappointing when potential new treatments fall at this final hurdle – but even negative trials help scientists to refine their ideas and come back with a new and better approach.

Although it can take some years for trials to take place, it is always exciting to see potential new dementia drugs taken through to clinical trial stage. We need see many more trials taking place to help us put new treatments into the hands of people with dementia. Alzheimer’s Research UK’s newly announced Drug Discovery Institute and Dementia Consortium will bring together the expertise needed to translate the best discoveries from academic research through to benefits for patients sooner.

Smell and eye tests may detect memory decline and dementia

There is growing evidence that problems identifying odours may be associated with cognitive decline, and therefore, may be used to predict dementia. In two studies presented today at AAIC, researchers from Columbia University used the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), a 40-item ‘scratch and sniff’ test to understand how changes in odour identification are associated with cognitive decline.

New vaccine against Alzheimer’s protein to enter clinical trial

A new treatment aimed at clearing abnormal clumps of protein called tau tangles from the brain in Alzheimer’s disease is entering an early-stage clinical trial in the UK. The treatment, known as ACI-35, is being tested in a clinical trial run by a Swiss company called AC Immune. The trial will be led by Prof Roy Jones, a consultant geriatrician based in Bath, and run across sites in Bath, Liverpool and Finland