Slashdot Mirror
New Alzheimer's Drug Shows Promise
An anonymous reader writes "The Herald Sun is reporting that researchers may have some progress to report on the Alzheimer's front. A new drug, called PBT2, was developed by a Melbourne-based biotech firm that has been showing some promising results. From the article: 'Early clinical testing has confirmed the drug is fast-acting. Levels of amyloid dropped by 60 per cent within 24 hours of a single dose. It found also that PBT2 suppresses the impairment of memory function. More human studies begin in Sweden next month and Australians will join a major international trial of the drug next year.'"
On the other hand if you take a look at the pdf linked on the homepage (pdf warning), you will see that it is a clinical trial designed to assess both safety and efficacy. It's pretty small numbers though (18 completers) and the efficacy is assesed by cognition tests. There's certainly no mention of amyloid reduction so that may well refer to the animal studies.
Ye have made your way from the worm to man, and much within you is still worm.