A new drug has been found to brake the spread of the crippling brain disorder Alzheimer's disease, according to trials reported in Friday's issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

The treatment, Galantamine, was tested in 86 clinics in eight countries among 653 randomly-chosen patients with mild to moderate symptoms of Alzheimer's.

The subjects were given Galantamine or a harmless lookalike and after six months, a test of their mental functions showed that patients who took the drug performed significantly better than those who took the placebo.

"Galantamine slowed the decline of functional ability as well as cognition," said the International Team of Researchers, led by Gordon Wilcock of the University of Bristol, Western England.

"There were no significant side effects," they added.

The trials took place in Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

Alzheimer's is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain characterised by dementia and memory loss. It has been blamed on a rogue protein that creates fibrous tangles, called tau, which destroy brain cells.

Galantamine inhibits cholinesterase, an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, a substance that helps to transmit signals between brain cells.

In this way, more acetylcholine is available for memory-related and cognitive functioning.

Galantamine is made by the Belgium-based Janssen Research foundation.

Bureau Report
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