It’s been nearly 10 years since John Alam co-founded privately held EIP Pharma Inc. and the company’s upcoming merger with publicly traded Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. will add scientific and financial muscle to its drive for a successful Lewy body treatment. To him, dealing with groundbreaking science requires patience.
FDA approval of Aduhelm (aducanumab), as the first disease modifying drug for Alzheimer’s, may have had a distinctly lukewarm reception in some quarters, but it is an important starting point in treating dementia, with a myriad of other avenues now being pursued in discovery and development.
If you believe the theme of the World Dementia Council (WDC) meeting in London this week, dementia is “in a new era,” where it will be possible to prevent, diagnose and treat neurodegenerative disease. That is not the case for most people living with dementia today, but the approval of the first disease-modifying drugs and the imminent arrival of new blood-based biomarkers is “a big moment,” Lenny Shallcross, executive director of WDC told the meeting on Mar. 20.
If you believe the theme of the World Dementia Council (WDC) meeting in London this week, dementia is “in a new era,” where it will be possible to prevent, diagnose and treat neurodegenerative disease. That is not the case for most people living with dementia today, but the approval of the first disease-modifying drugs and the imminent arrival of new blood-based biomarkers is “a big moment,” Lenny Shallcross, executive director of WDC told the meeting on Mar. 20.
A new study has uncovered a potential link between RNA regulation and the development of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and dementia. This work, conducted by researchers at the University of Nottingham, used a combination of microscopy and machine learning techniques to examine the role of N6-methyladenosine modification of RNA (m6A) in the human brain.
A new blood test developed by Durin Technologies Inc. and Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine detected the presence of Alzheimer’s disease pathology in nearly all asymptomatic patients who went on to developed cognitive impairment or dementia, a study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found. The test uses eight autoantibody biomarkers to identify patients with the disease at pre-symptomatic, prodromal and mild-moderate stages of disease.
A shortage of efficacy compared to placebo in a phase II study of treating cognitive impairment has put Aptinyx Inc. on the defensive. The company’s oral, small-molecule NMDA receptor modulator, NYX-458, was being studied in 99 patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease or Lewy body dementia. Based on the results, Aptinyx has decided to stop the therapy’s development, along with closing its phase IIb study of another oral, small molecule, NYX-783, for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.
Neurodiagnostics LLC (dba Synaps Dx) and Linus Health Inc. reported significant advances for their dementia diagnostics Feb. 16, adding to the liquid biopsies and radiologic studies currently used and potentially expanding access to beneficial treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias.
The shunt towards, or away from, cognitive decline may happen decades before such decline becomes clinically evident. And known risk factors explain very little of that decline. That is the conclusion reached by researchers from the Ohio State University, who published their results in the Feb. 8, 2023, issue of PLOS ONE.
In their analysis, the team looked at both the absolute level of cognitive function in about 7,000 participants of the U.S. Health and Retirement Study at age 54, and at the decline in cognitive function from age 54 to 85. The study participants that were analyzed were born between 1931 and 1941. The results were reminiscent of the adage that the way to make a silk purse out a sow’s ear is to start with a silk sow.
The sigma 1 receptor is widely distributed in the nervous system and its function has been implicated in a number of neurological disorders including dementia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases. In a recent publication, researchers from the University of Nebraska detailed the discovery of novel sigma 1 receptor modulators.
