Saturday, March 16, 2024
HomePopularWhy Is There No Cure For Alzheimer's Disease

Why Is There No Cure For Alzheimer’s Disease

How To Protect Yourself

Why We May Already Have a Cure for Alzheimers Disease | Wade Self | TEDxMarquetteHighSchool

Here are some other ways to protect yourself and others from fake Alzheimers treatments:

  • Question any product that also claims to be a scientific breakthrough. Companies marketing these products take advantage of people when they are most vulnerable and often looking for a miracle cure.
  • Always check with your doctor or health care professional before buying or using any over-the-counter product, including those labeled as dietary supplements.

A great deal of scientific research is being conducted on Alzheimers disease, but at this point, no cure or treatment have been shown to stop or reverse the progression of the disease. Several prescription drugs have been approved by the FDA to treat people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. Most medicines work best for people in the early or middle stages of Alzheimers, and can slow down some symptoms, such as memory loss, for a time. But none of these medications stops the disease itself.

Treatment development and FDA-approval requires clinical research and testing to ensure that any new drugs are both effective and safe. For patients interested in accessing investigational drugs, there are legal ways to do so, such as by taking part in clinical trials.

Researchers Around The World Are Working To Develop Effective Treatments For Dementia And Eventually To Find A Cure

Much of this work is focussed on Alzheimers disease, the most common form of dementia.

There is currently no cure for Alzheimers disease. Available medications can reduce symptoms and improve quality of life in some people, but they do not stop the progress of the disease.

The potential treatments discussed below are in the early stages of research and are not currently available. However, they are all part of the research effort to find more effective treatments for Alzheimers disease and ultimately a cure.

What Is Known About Alzheimers Disease

Scientists do not yet fully understand what causes Alzheimers disease. There likely is not a single cause but rather several factors that can affect each person differently.

  • Age is the best known risk factor for Alzheimers disease.
  • Family historyresearchers believe that genetics may play a role in developing Alzheimers disease. However, genes do not equal destiny. A healthy lifestyle may help reduce your risk of developing Alzheimers disease. Two large, long term studies indicate that adequate physical activity, a nutritious diet, limited alcohol consumption, and not smoking may help people. To learn more about the study, you can listen to a short podcast.
  • Changes in the brain can begin years before the first symptoms appear.
  • Researchers are studying whether education, diet, and environment play a role in developing Alzheimers disease.
  • There is growing scientific evidence that healthy behaviors, which have been shown to prevent cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, may also reduce risk for subjective cognitive decline. Heres 8 ways.

You May Like: Alzheimer’s Lack Of Neurotransmitter

Who Has Alzheimers Disease

  • In 2020, as many as 5.8 million Americans were living with Alzheimers disease.1
  • Younger people may get Alzheimers disease, but it is less common.
  • The number of people living with the disease doubles every 5 years beyond age 65.
  • This number is projected to nearly triple to 14 million people by 2060.1
  • Symptoms of the disease can first appear after age 60, and the risk increases with age.

What Is The Burden Of Alzheimers Disease In The United States

How flickering light can help fight Alzheimers
  • Alzheimers disease is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States.2
  • The 6th leading cause of death among US adults.
  • The 5th leading cause of death among adults aged 65 years or older.3

In 2020, an estimated 5.8 million Americans aged 65 years or older had Alzheimers disease.1 This number is projected to nearly triple to 14 million people by 2060.1

In 2010, the costs of treating Alzheimers disease were projected to fall between $159 and $215 billion.4 By 2040, these costs are projected to jump to between $379 and more than $500 billion annually.4

Death rates for Alzheimers disease are increasing, unlike heart disease and cancer death rates that are on the decline.5 Dementia, including Alzheimers disease, has been shown to be under-reported in death certificates and therefore the proportion of older people who die from Alzheimers may be considerably higher.6

Aging

Recommended Reading: What Color Is The Dementia Ribbon

Fda Protects Consumers From Companies Selling Unapproved New Drugs

The FDA takes action against companies marketing unapproved new drugs that claim to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure Alzheimers disease and a number of other diseases and health conditions.

The FDA issues warning letters to advise the companies to change or remove claims about their products that render the products misbranded or otherwise illegally marketed, and if the companies dont comply, the FDA may take further legal action to prevent the products from reaching consumers.

If you know of a product or supplement being advertised or sold as treatment for Alzheimers or other diseases, you can report it on FDAs website.

Why There Is No Cure For Alzheimer’s Disease

ALZHEIMERS DISEASE WRITTEN BY: BRITNEY JESTER Alzheimers is a type of dementia, a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. Its symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years. There is no known cure for it at this time, and has only but a few treatment options to help temporarily improve symptoms.

Also Check: What Color Ribbon Is For Alzheimer Disease

What Is Alzheimers Disease

  • Alzheimers disease is the most common type of dementia.
  • It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment.
  • Alzheimers disease involves parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language.
  • It can seriously affect a persons ability to carry out daily activities.

Treatments For Alzheimer’s & Dementia

San Antonio Alzheimers Association excited about new FDA approved drug, fundraiser to help fami…

There’s no cure for Alzheimers, but there are treatments that may change disease progression, and drug and non-drug options that may help treat symptoms. Understanding available options can help individuals living with the disease and their caregivers to cope with symptoms and improve quality of life.

Also Check: Do Dementia Patients Tell The Truth

Advancements In Amyloid And Tau

All thats not to say the treatment theories that held so much promise in the 90s and early 2000s have been totally abandoned, despite decades of failed clinical trials. Much of the research in the field continues to focus on amyloid, as well as tau another hallmark protein of Alzheimers disease that forms tangles inside the neurons.

This year, all eyes are on aducanumab, an anti-amyloid drug that is headed to the Food and Drug Administration for review. It was shown in clinical trials to reduce the amount of amyloid in the brains of people with early Alzheimers disease. U.S. drugmaker Biogen reports that participants who received high doses of the antibody saw improvements in memory and thinking skills, and were better able to perform activities of daily living, such as laundry and personal finances. If approved, aducanumab will be the first drug available to treat people with Alzheimers disease. Currently, the handful of dementia drugs available help only to alleviate symptoms.

Christopher H. van Dyck, M.D., professor of psychiatry, neurology and neuroscience and director of the Alzheimers Disease Research Unit at the Yale School of Medicine, points to two other amyloid-clearing therapies that are far along in the clinical trial process BAN2401 and gantenerumab . If aducanumab doesnt clear FDA review, youd bet on one of these becoming the first available treatment for Alzheimers disease, he says.

Why Have We Failed To Cure Alzheimer’s Disease

Attempts to find cures for Alzheimer’s disease have, however, failed so far, in spite of enormous investments, intellectual and financial. We therefore have to reconsider the problem from new angles. AD is regarded as a disease because of its clinical manifestations and underlying pathology. However, this combination does not define a disease but rather a

Also Check: Does Prevagen Help With Dementia

The Cells’ Waste Management Is Destroyed By Alzheimer’s Disease

One of the causes of Alzheimers disease is the degeneration and loss of nerve cells in the brain as we age. A cell is like a finely tuned machinery. The cell needs energy to perform its tasks. The energy comes from energy factories called mitochondria.

In young, healthy cells, old or damaged mitochondria are removed from the cell in a process called mitophagy. The research group found that when we get older, we have more broken mitochondria, and the cells will not be able to remove all of them anymore. An accumulation of broken mitochondria clogs the cells ordinary processes and eventually, the cell will die.

Cells need the energy generated by the mitochondria to clear this “garbage”. Just like a machine will stop working if it is not maintained, says associate professor Evandro F. Fang, the leader of the research group.

Fang leads an international research group at The Institute of clinical medicine, University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital.

We Dont Fully Understand The Causes

#WeWontRest until Alzheimers patients have a brighter future

If we are to design a treatment that stops the condition at its source we really need to know why brain cell death happens in the first place.

In history, blind luck has led scientists to stumble upon effective treatments for conditions like smallpox and infections that are responsive to penicillin. But for a condition as complex as Parkinsons we should invest in research that fills in our incomplete view of what is happening inside the brain as it will give us the best chance of developing treatments that tackle the underlying causes of brain cell loss. Fortunately, there are some extremely talented and dedicated researchers, working with cutting-edge science and technology, trying to better understand Parkinsons and they are making new discoveries all the time.

Read Also: Karen Vieth Edgar Knight

Preventing And Targeting Plaques And Tangles

As with all diseases, knowing exactly what causes Alzheimers is key to identifying ways to prevent and treat the condition.

Past research has indicated that Alzheimers occurs when two abnormal brain structures plaques and tangles damage and kill nerve cells, causing the memory, thinking and behavioral problems associated with the disease.

Plaques are fragments of a protein called beta-amyloid, which build up in areas between nerve cells. Tangles are twisted fibers of a protein called tau, which accumulate inside brain cells.

Although the jury is still out on the exact roles plaques and tangles play in the development of Alzheimers, studies have suggested that build up of these proteins begins long before symptoms develop.

Evidence suggests that the process of Alzheimers disease begins more than a decade before clinical symptoms appear, suggesting we may need to intervene earlier to have a major impact on the course of the disease, particularly when using therapies designed to prevent the development of abnormal protein structures plaques and tangles that are abundant in the brains of people with Alzheimers, says Snyder.

Other research has suggested that targeting these abnormal structures could treat Alzheimers. Earlier this year, Medical News Today reported on a study by researchers from the University of California-Irvine, suggesting that increasing brain cell connections could reduce plaque accumulation.

What Are Some Complications Of Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimers disease is an irreversible form of dementia. The rate of progression differs between people: some people have it only in the last 5 years of their life, while others may have it for as long as 20 years. Alzheimers disease eventually leads to complete dependence and increasing frailty. This means a secondary illness, such as pneumonia, may eventually cause death.

Other complications of Alzheimers disease may include:

  • an inability to complete daily tasks such as planning meals and managing money
  • a tendency to wander from home
  • personality changes such as anxiety, depression and irritability that make relationships more difficult
  • delusions and hallucinations in advanced stages of the disease

Also Check: Bob Knight Health Condition

We Can And Will Solve The Alzheimers Disease Epidemic

Alzheimers and health care organizations admit there there are a lot of challenges to tackle before a cure for the disease is found.

But there is certainly a great deal of confidence that one day, Alzheimers will be eliminated from existence.

It is impossible to predict whether this breakthrough is round the corner, but we are definitely making progress in the right direction, said Pickett. We now understand much more about the progression of Alzheimers disease and researchers are finding ways to identify people in the earliest stages where they have the best of developing treatments that work.

Snyder agreed, adding:

At the Alzheimers Association, we are optimistic about the future, and our urgency continues to grow. We can and will solve the Alzheimers disease epidemic.

To find out more about Alzheimers, please visit the Alzheimers Association website if in the US, or the Alzheimers Society website if in the UK.

That Pathetic Alzheimers Pipeline Its Even Worse Than You Think

Why is Alzheimer’s still a medical mystery? | The Economist

Alkon said he lost at least that many. During three decades at NIH, he did groundbreaking work on the cellular and molecular basis of memory, rose to the position of lab director, published hundreds of scientific papers and never cured anyone of anything. But in 1999, he felt, he just might.

He therefore resigned from NIH to head a cure-focused, neurological institute founded by the Rockefeller family, studying an odd compound called bryostatin-1 and its remarkable ability to increase synapse-boosting molecules. Hoping to turn bryostatin into an Alzheimers drug, Alkon co-founded Neurotrope BioScience in 2012, and soon tried to interest a leading pharmaceutical company in collaborating to develop bryostatin faster than a little startup could alone.

In a meeting at the drug makers headquarters, Alkon ran through the data. In human neurons growing in lab dishes, bryostatin provided protection against amyloid and preserved synapses. In mice, it improved learning and memory even when amyloid levels remained high. It not only preserved synapses, it also sopped up amyloid molecules, the protein fragments whose clumping into sticky plaques between brain neurons is considered the hallmark of the disease. And in earlier studies, when tested against cancer, bryostatin was extremely safe.

Cool, great, the executives said. There was just one thing.

Recommended Reading: Neurotransmitters Involved In Alzheimer’s

There Is No Alzheimers Cure So Whats The Point

The answer to this question is significant and important for anyone suffering or at risk from Alzheimers disease. And its particularly critical for care partners and families that will ultimately be responsible for the journey of care that an Alzheimers patient must take in life. The fact is that there is a very strong and relevant point: Alzheimers disease is not a normal part of aging and just because there is no cure, there are still steps to take that can slow the progression of the disease. Information is power, and with the right information patients and families can plan a strategy to make the most of the days, months or years ahead and provide someone with Alzheimers disease the best quality of life possible.

Alzheimers Medication Currently Available

While there is no drug to cure Alzheimers, there are medications available as an Alzheimers treatment to impede the progression of the disease. As the condition advances, brain cells die and connections among these cells are broken, causing cognitive symptoms to increase. Current medications are available to help lessen or stabilize symptoms by impacting certain chemicals that carry messages between the nerve cells of the brain. While this effect is limited in its duration, it still can provide extra time for a patient to be mentally present with their friends and family.

Alzheimers Medications for Early-to-Moderate Stages
Moderate-to-Late Stage Alzheimers Medication

Other Alzheimers Treatments

How Far Have We Come

There are only a few examples in history where a single approach has provided a cure for everyone with a condition, and Parkinsons will be no different. It will involve different treatments and therapies at different times for different people. But the multiple pieces of this puzzle are starting to come together, and we are starting to make breakthroughs that could relieve symptoms for the rest of life.

Parkinsons is a progressive neurological condition that affects about 145,000 people in the UK and an estimated 714 million people worldwide. There is currently no cure, and we desperately need better treatments.

You can help us speed up the development of new and better treatments, and a cure for Parkinsons by donating to groundbreaking research today.

Read Also: How Long Does A Person Live After Being Diagnosed With Alzheimer’s

How These Drugs Work

These drugs may work for some people but not others, and they do not stop the progression of Alzheimers disease. Instead, the drugs may delay it or help with symptom control for a period of time, particularly in the earlier stages of the disease. This action, in turn, may help patients with their attention and focus, cognitive abilities, memory, and communication skills.

One Of The Worlds Best Drug Hunters Went After Alzheimers Heres How He Lost

How flickering light can help fight Alzheimers

Despite being described as a cabal, the amyloid camp was neither organized nor nefarious. Those who championed the amyloid hypothesis truly believed it, and thought that focusing money and attention on it rather than competing ideas was the surest way to an effective drug.

It has not worked out that way. Research focused on amyloid, and the development and testing of experimental drugs targeting it, have sucked up billions of dollars in government, foundation, and pharma funding with nothing to show for it. While targeting amyloid may or may not be necessary to treat Alzheimers, it is not sufficient, and the additional steps almost certainly include those that were ignored, even censored. Probably the most shattering turn came in March, when Biogen halted the study of what proponents called the most promising Alzheimers drug in years an amyloid-targeting antibody.

For all her regrets about the amyloid hegemony, Neve is an unlikely critic: She co-led the 1987 discovery of mutations in a gene called APP that increases amyloid levels and causes Alzheimers in middle age, supporting the then-emerging orthodoxy. Yet she believes that one reason Alzheimers remains incurable and untreatable is that the amyloid camp dominated the field, she said. Its followers were influential to the extent that they persuaded the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke that it was a waste of money to fund any Alzheimers-related grants that didnt center around amyloid.

You May Like: Does Ben Carson Have Dementia

RELATED ARTICLES

Most Popular