Drugs to treat Alzheimer's Disease will be available within decade, say scientists

A treatment for Alzheimer’s disease will be available within a decade and could ultimately be prescribed like statins to prevent the onset of the illness, experts have predicted.

Speaking ahead of a lecture at the Royal Society, Professor John Hardy, a dementia expert from University College London, said that current drug trials were showing such promise that he believes we are now ‘in an era of great optimism.’
Prof Hardy said it was likely that drugs will be available by 2025 that will radically push back the age at which people develop dementia.

“I think we're on target for therapies by 2025,” he said. “All of us are excited about drug trials that are going on now.

“In the coming year we will know if we are already at the start of a new era of better treatments for slowing or stopping the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

“I am confident that over the next decade or so we will find more effective ways of preventing or slowing down the dementias. By 2050 such advances should be benefiting at least a million people a year in the UK.”

Last summer the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced that early trial results showed that the drug solanezumab could prevent mental decline from Alzheimer’s disease by a third.

It is the first time that a medication has been shown to work on the underlying disease process itself rather than the symptoms by clearing out the sticky amyloid plaques which stop brain cells from communicating with each other.

The drug would be given by infusion, but experts say that there could come a time when people at risk of dementia are screened and given preventative drugs, like statins are used to prevent heart problems.

Dr Simon Ridley, Director of Research at the Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “We're not at the stage yet where we have a drug like a statin. The kind of drugs we're talking about at the moment would be very expensive infusions.

“But ultimately you could think of it in those terms. If we have identified people at risk that's a reasonable assumption.”

There are currently 850,000 people living with dementia in Britain which is due to rise to one million by 2025 and two million by 2050.

But there is reason for hope because since the 1980s dementia rates have actually fallen by 20 per cent because of life-style improvements, meaning that people do not now get diseases like Alzheimer’s so early.

A recent study by Cambridge University suggested that cholesterol in the body could be driving vascular dementia, so controlling diet could help prevent up to 30 per cent of cases.

“Reduction in the proportion of elderly cases might relate to the fact we are getting better at controlling cholesterol,” added Professor Hardy.

Dr Doug Brown, Director of Research and Development at Alzheimer’s Society added: "The development of treatments that can slow the rate of memory loss in Alzheimer's disease will, without a doubt, mark a turning point in the way dementia is managed, and be life-changing for people with the condition.

"We are now making much needed advancements in our understanding of what goes wrong in the brain when dementia develops and what we should be doing to tackle it.”

Dame Gill Morgan, chair of NHS providers, the trade association for acute, ambulance, community and mental health services, said: “Dementia is in my opinion the cruelest disease. Your family watch you declining. They keep the body but lose the person overtime.

“Our knowledge of dementia is about 20 years ahead of our knowledge of cancer.

“We're at an important time for dementia. This is a time bomb. This is a terrible condition we need to be doing more about this than in the past. Never has the health service and social care system been so fragile as it is today.”

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Drugs to treat Alzheimer's Disease will be available within decade, say scientists