New Era Of Hope: Brain Cell Death Inhibitor Dimebon

.
Alzheimer's Donation
Donate Online Now
.


Dimebon is a drug that has shown ability to stop brain cell death in preclinical testing for Alzheimer's.

Dimebon appears to offer brain cells protection from amyloid build up by blocking something that targets their mitochondria. Mitochondria supply cells with energy and are also involved in apoptosis (programmed cell death) which is associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and ageing.

Dr Rachel Doody, Effie Marie Cain Chair in Alzheimer's Disease Research and Professor of Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas reported the 12 month results of a small trial, which was already reported at the six-month stage:
The trial took place in Russia and enrolled 183 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's.
The patients were randomized to receive Dimebon or placebo three times a day for six months.
They were then offered to continue in a double blind trial extension for another six months.

Assessments included a battery of cognitive and other tests of behaviour and daily functioning (ADAS-cog was the primary endpoint) performed at baseline and then roughly every 3 months.
The results showed that patients improved significantly compared to baseline on all measures and the drug was well tolerated. According to Dr William Thies, vice president of medical and scientific affairs at the Alzheimer's Association, Dimebon limits symptoms in a similar way to glutamate antagonists (also used to treat Alzheimer's) and anticholinesterases such as Aricept.

Adverse events included dry mouth and sweating and over 30 per cent of the patients dropped out of the trial. This high drop out rate could raise some concerns, said some critics, although the results are promising.