Helping to roll back the symptoms of Alzheimer's

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A Colorado biotech company called Accera has developed Ketasyn (AC-1202), an orally given liquid that is converted by the liver into ketone bodies. The brain can use these molecules as a source of energy - even when it can't process glucose.

At this week's Annual International Conference on Prevention of Dementia, run by the US Alzheimers Association, Accera took the opportunity to disclose some data from a Phase IIb trial of Ketasyn. Of the 152 patients enrolled, the patients receiving the drug - in combination with other Alzheimer's medication, showed significant improvement in memory and cognition (using the AD Assessment Scale-Cognitive score or ADAS-Cog).

The latest figures estimate that 26.6 million people are living with Alzheimer's disease globally. Scientists from the John Hopkins University predict that those numbers will quadruple by 2050 to more than 100 million, at which time 1 in 85 persons worldwide will be living with the disease. Given that current treatments concentrate on the symptoms of the disease rather than the underlying causes, new drugs are needed if these numbers are to be reduced.

According to Accera, the main fuel for the brain is the sugar glucose; it is used both to generate energy and to produce chemicals such as cholesterol and acetylcholine. Neuronal cells do not efficiently utilize fats, and low glucose levels cause disturbances in cholesterol levels, cholinergic defects, and altered processing and clearing of cellular proteins - all of which are physiological hallmarks of Alzheimer's. For example, disturbances in cholesterol metabolism are known to affect the processing of the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP).

The potentially protective effect of Ketasyn on brain cells is, therefore, a new way of treating Alzheimer's. The results were even better (5 points ADAS-Cog compared to 3.5 point improvement) in a subgroup of patients who didn't have a genetic predisposition to the disease - characterised by the presence of the epsilon4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (ApoE). Those patients who didn't have this allele showed improved memory and cognition, while AC-Ketasyn appeared to stabilise the disease in those with ApoE4.

A helping hand to the confused consumer
Consumers are bombarded with an overload of nutritional advice without a degree in nutritional science, it's a wonder they can make sense of it.

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