100 Year-Old Drug Halts Progress Of Alzheimer's

pafischer writes "Several Australian and UK websites are running articles on this story. I'm shocked that I heard it on the Baltimore rock radio station news, but don't see it on any of the big US new websites. 'Clioquinol, developed 100 years ago, can absorb the zinc and copper compounds that concentrate in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers before dementia sets in, the study found.' Read all about it at ABC Radio AU, The Sidney Morning Herald, and The Age." Of course, the pathology of Alzheimer's is far from fully understood.

It's be great to see this thing finally killed

[ChopsMIDI]

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: How reliable is the study if it is only 36 patients?

COLIN MASTERS: This is, again, a pilot study, so our next step is to take it into a much larger series of patients, either this drug or a better drug we have in development. What we have on the drawing boards is a better version of this drug which is more effective and will probably go into trials hopefully before the end of this year.

I'd like to see the results after a much more extensive study has been conducted. If this really works, which at least with these preliminary tests suggest, it'd be nice to see alzheimers start to go the way if the dodo.

Re:Watch the big drug companies kill this QUICK

[MissMarvel]

The drug companies may not touch it, but this is one of the Big A illnesses... Alzheimer's, AIDS, and Autism. It could draw a lot of attention at the NIH level.

Remember, the drug companies weren't all that hot on research to oust hormone replacement therapy(HRT) either, but the Women's Health Initiative went forward with a vengance. As a result, Wyeth-Ayerst's Primarin took a nose-dive as millions of women decided to opt out of HRT.

This 100 year old drug may become a "hot topic" in upcoming medical research. I just hope they have a few more patients in the next study.

Re:Watch the big drug companies kill this QUICK

[kurosawdust]

OK,so assume ACME Pharmaceuticals realizes this - theyll probably say "hey, the other drug companies arent touching it + people want it = open market". Your conclusion that "Alzheimer's won't get an effective [drug]" is flawed because of this, I believe. I think its ridiculous to presume that *every* pharmaceutical company will sit on its hands when people want this drug and (under your assumption) nobody is supplying it.

Re:Watch the big drug companies kill this QUICK

[Meowing]

Tell that to the generic drug manufacturers, and the companies that have been cranking out the same public domain OTC remedies forever.

Really, drug manufacturers don't mind at all if you get better from disease A and live a bit longer, because they'll get to see you when you come down with disease B a few years later. See, the neat thing about the medical industry, from a financial standpoint, is that pretty much everyone manages to get real sick and even die sooner or later, so there's always going to be an opportunity to sell something.

Re:Watch the big drug companies kill this QUICK

[ctr2sprt]

Since when is nonsensical paranoia interesting? Common sense proves the AC's an idiot. Go down to your local pharmacy. Note the shelves full of dirt-cheap medications, both brand names and generics. Obviously drug companies can continue to make money off extremely old medications.

The reason is incredibly simple. The entire cost of a new medication comes from years and years of research. Not just of the medication that makes it to market, but of the ten which don't. Producing the actual pills costs virtually nothing.

So you see, it does make sense for drug companies to sell unpatented pills. They won't make a killing, but they don't need to: they invested no money in research of the medication, they have no losses to recoup. Even if they only make five cents per hundred thousand pills, it's five cents they wouldn't otherwise have.

Re:Watch the big drug companies kill this QUICK

[Cap'nMike]

Note the phrase, "either this drug or a better drug we have in development". That is the best way for any of the big drug companies to make money off of a discovery like this, by offering a better functioning alternative. Your point is valid that older drugs still function and are still available, but if there is a faster or more effective alternative, almost anyone will spend more to give their older relations the better drug.

Re:Symptoms of Alzheimers...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well the rate of Alzheimer's has been increasing rapidly, so I don't at all doubt that it can be prevented naturally. Just eat healthy unprocessed foods like our bodies evolved to do, and don't take in so many preservatives, pollutants, etc. Alzheimer's along with a bunch of other diseases would be much less common.

That will never happen because people are too arrogant and ignorant, and somehow feel that they are cheating themselves if they don't suck down mad-cow and nitrite filled hotdogs, nutritionally empty processed foods, etc.

As for a cure, well I guess I need to share an opinion of mine about Americans first. Most fall into two groups. One thinks all medicines should be synthetic pills you buy from a store, and the other thinks all medicines should be natural. In my opinion, both groups are extremely idealistic and ignorant.

Imagine a carrot. Are there chemicals in it? Sure, vitamin C, sugars, stuff like that. Is there anything in that carrot that is not a chemical? Absolutely not! The entire carrot is made out of chemicals. Nothing that you can touch or see is not made entirely out of chemicals. The fact is, plants make chemicals, and so do scientists.

Plants have a very diverse collection of chemicals available to us to use as medicines. Most drugs made today are only variants of natural chemicals. At the same time, scientists can tweak these chemicals and get different effects from them.

The bottom line is that if you are excluding either natural or synthetic chemicals as medicines, your idealistic thoughts will likely result in less than optimal health. Don't be closed minded. I am talking to both groups of people when I say this.