The US-led decades-long study by medical researchers from the Institute for Molecular Medicine and the University of California, Irvine (UCI), is finally coming to fruition with a vaccine to prevent dementia soon to enter the human trial stage within two years. The research itself was mostly carried out at South Australia’s Flinders University by Professor Nikolai Petrovsky.
They recently tested it on mice with successful results. A paper has been published in the journal Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy that elaborates on the 20 years of research that took them to the point of finally reaching human trials.
The treatment is a combination of two drugs designed to target and remove brain plaque and nanofibre tangles (tau protein aggregate) – which are associated with the cognitive decline, memory failure, and neurodegeneration exhibited in Alzheimer’s disease. For those who are predisposed to the disease, this vaccine has the potential to prevent it.
Professor Petrovsky, a specialist in endocrinology at Flinders University in Adelaide, said:
Our approach is looking to cover all bases and get past previous roadblocks in finding a therapy to slow the accumulation of Aβ/tau molecules and delay AD progression in all the rising number of people around the world.
Alzheimer’s disease affects approximately 5.7 million individuals in America alone. It’s the leading cause of age-related dementia, and many other promising drugs have previously failed in clinical trials. However, this vaccine is different than those, and the researchers are very confident about it.
There is nothing like this available yet. For now, the best treatments available only reduce symptoms of Alzheimer’s, but they don’t target and eliminate the specific problem affecting the brain. If the treatment of people proves to be safe and works well, it could be available within a decade. The clinical trials are projected to start within 20 months.
Professor Petrovsky said:
This vaccine could be revolutionary. It’s not something that will be available tomorrow, but it’s an exciting step in the right direction. This is not the start of the journey, it’s the end.
Nevertheless, as there have been several promising drugs to reach clinical trials and fail up to now, it’s best not to expect anything grand but we can still hope for the best.
