Intervention slows brain damage due to Alzheimer’s: 5/7

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Intervention slows brain damage due to Alzheimer’s

Investigational treatment Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV), which utilizes naturally occurring antibodies in human blood, has preserved the thinking abilities of a small group of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s patients.

The brain of a typical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patient shrinks three to four times faster than a healthy older adult due to accelerated brain cell death. Shrinkage of brain tissue causes the fluid-filled ventricles at the brain’s center to enlarge at a faster rate than normal. The unprecedented reductions in these measures after IGIV was administered in the Phase 2 study may indicate that IGIV exerts a disease-modifying effect that the current generation of AD treatments does not.

“It’s very encouraging news and if the results are confirmed, this will be a great victory against Alzheimer’s disease,” said Jacobo Mintzer, M.D., principal investigator at the MUSC location of the study. “We are proud to be one of the leading centers working on this project.”

The next step, Phase 3 study of IGIV is now under way throughout North America.

Friday, May 7, 2010

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