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Breakthrough Ultrasound Treatment To Reverse Dementia Moves To Human Trials

An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Atlas: An extraordinarily promising new technique using ultrasound to clear the toxic protein clumps thought to cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease is moving to the first phase of human trials next year. The innovative treatment has proven successful across several animal tests and presents an exciting, drug-free way to potentially battle dementia. The ultrasound treatment was first developed back in 2015 at the University of Queensland. The initial research was working to find a way to use ultrasound to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier with the goal of helping dementia-battling antibodies better reach their target in the brain. However, early experiments with mice surprisingly revealed the targeted ultrasound waves worked to clear toxic amyloid protein plaques from the brain without any additional therapeutic drugs. The new announcement regarding the upcoming move to human trials is underpinned by a large funding injection from the Australian government helping accelerate the treatment's development. The first stage is a phase 1 safety trial, kicking off later in 2019, to explore the safety profile of the treatment in human subjects suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

2 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. MOD UP by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Very useful summary with added detail and good article link. Thanks!

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  2. Re:Thank you mentally defective nazi cowards by jpaine619 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Uh, pretty sure it was the Nazis that marked people for horrible deaths... What does that say about you?