Trials for a new therapy against Alzheimer’s will start shortly. If administered early it could block the onset of the disease
A definitive cure is a horizon still too far away. But for years, research has been trying to develop effective drugs and therapies to counteract the symptoms dell’Alzheimer. An increasingly widespread disease, described by many as a pandemic closely linked to the progressive increase in life expectancy globally.
The incidence of problems related to the deterioration of the nervous system, in fact, increases as the human population gets old. Alzheimer’s is a particularly insidious pathology, both because its causes remain largely unknown to medicine, and for the effects on patients and family members. The progression of the disease in fact culminates in the almost total erasure of the memory of those who suffer from it, to the point of not remembering anything about themselves.
Research in progress
There are many labs looking for ways to fight or at least delay the disease. The American company Eli Lilly is trying to approve a new drug to delay its course. Japan has recently approved another similar one, the Leqembi. And European researchers are also at work.
“We are about to start a trial called Primary Prevention on people genetically predisposed to develop the disease. They know they have the mutation that causes Alzheimer’s, but they have about 25 years before the first symptoms appear”, he explains Catherine Mummery, head of clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia Research Center, at UCL. “The goal is to give them a therapy capable of preventing the onset of the disease. We will start in the next few months, which seems really exciting to me”.
In the current state of research, no laboratory promises miracles. A definitive cure is still a long way off, but the treatments available delay the symptoms and improve the quality of life of the sufferers.