Trial Match Brochure

The Alzheimer's Association has a matching program for clinical trials. Anyone can participate. To learn more, download the Trial Match Brochure here.

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HBO has developed The Alzheimer's Project; a comprehensive source for information about people affected be the disease, and films about scientific advances

 

The Alzheimer's HBO Series brings home the sad facts that Alzheimer's is not just about losing memory. It's also about loss and grief, and terrible financial and emotional burdens for caregivers and loved ones.

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Immunotherapy for Alzheimer's

Gretchen Heuring for ElderThink

 

Immunotherapy is a medical treatment designed to produce immunity to a disease or to enhance resistance by the immune system. In other words, it coaxes our bodies to fight off a disease. Examples would be polio or chicken box vaccine. In response to immunotherapy, we develop immunity by producing antibodies that guard against invading organisms. An immunotherapy program for Alzheimer's is highly desirable. Imagine a vaccine for Alzheimer's.

 

Bapineuzumab

Bapineuzumab (pronounced bap-ee-nue-zoo-mab) was discontinued in late 2013 after clinical trials revealed that it was not effective in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. Bapineuzumab is an antibody that has possible value for treatment of Alzheimer's because it acts against beta-amyloid, the plaque that causes Alzheimer's. Bapineuzumab was being developed as a drug by Élan, an Irish pharmaceutical company, in collaboration with Wyeth. Janssen, an affiliate of Johnson and Johnson is also collaborating on the development of this drug.

 

Gantenerumab

There has been great hope for another drug called Gantenerumab (pronounced gan-te-ner-u-mab), but progress is slow. Gantenerumab is the first entirely human antibody to be introduced to clinical trials.

 

Gammagard

Another immunotherapy drug called Gammagard, developed by Baxter Laboratories, has been used for immunodeficiency for several years. This means that it has been effective for people with various immune defiency diseases. A clinical trial to discover if it will help the development of antibodies for beta-amyloid (Alzheimer's) was conducted in 2013. The trial was not successful.

 

There are other drugs in various stages of research and development. Teams of researchers from different drug companies have joined forces to try to find a solution. It's possible that we could have an Alzheimer's vaccine in the next few years.