Some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies have reduced their research into Alzheimer’s disease after a number of trials costing hundreds of millions of pounds, have failed.
Both Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson have stopped trials on the experimental drug, Bapineuzumab, after high profile clinical trials have failed. They have both said they will no longer continue trials for the drug in an injectable form. This is just one drug which has been tested with disappointing results over the last five years, with one drug tested even making symptoms worse.
Dr Karran, the science director at the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK, believes that pharmaceutical companies seem to be less willing to gamble on dementia treatments and that perhaps the cost of patient trials could be met with a form of public-private funding.
What this story indicates is that pharmaceutical companies are perhaps more business led than they may like to appear. Of course, companies want to see a return on their investments, but there is also a need for this important research, in a society where the number of people suffering from dementia is expected to triple by 2050.
This is also highlighted by the reduction in research into antibiotics because they are not the “money-spinners” they once were. Drug resistant super bugs mean that developing antibiotics which may not work is less appealing than drug development for conditions requiring long term medication, such as statins and antidepressants.
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However, research into Alzheimer’s has proven that it is a disease which can be caused by low level inflammation in the body. Most of the time it can take 15 years for symptoms to show, by which time it is too late to treat or reverse.
The good news is that the C-reactive protein which indicates inflammation in the body, is easily detected with a blood test, so perhaps testing earlier in life could indicate whether someone may develop this and other degenerative diseases.
Here is more information on this and how you can try and counter inflammation in your daily life.
http://livingto150.com/aging-and-longevity-4-inflammation/
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