Alzheimer's treatment: Scottish company's drug trial shows promising results

A Scottish pharmaceutical company has released promising new research showing Alzheimer’s could one day be stopped in its tracks by a new wave of drugs.

Alzheimer’s disease could one day be stopped in its tracks, results from a drug trial have shown – as a Scottish pharmaceutical company moved a step closer to making Scotland a world leader in dementia treatment.

TauRx, an Aberdeenshire-based life sciences company, is in the midst of testing a medicine that could potentially halt the deterioration of brain function in Alzheimer's patients. The breakthrough is giving hope to the millions of dementia sufferers worldwide and could potentially create the first preventative treatment for a deteriorating brain disease.

Last year, TauRx shared promising data from its ‘Lucidity’ drug trial, which showed its investigational drug hydromethylthionine mesylate (HMTM) leads to sustained cognitive improvement at an early, clinically detectable stage of Alzheimer’s – offering the prospect of improved brain function for patients.

TauRx, an Aberdeenshire-based life sciences company, is in the midst of testing a medicine that could potentially halt the deterioration of brain function in Alzheimer's patients

Now, new 24-month data released by the company shows sustained benefits across the disease spectrum from early to moderate dementia.

Professor Alistair Burns, emeritus professor of old age psychiatry at the University of Manchester, said: "We have reached an exciting time in the field of Alzheimer’s disease treatment. After no new therapies for a generation, we are on the threshold of having a range of new treatments, which have the real potential to slow the disease process.

“This is great news for people with Alzheimer's disease, their families and carers. "

Analyses comparing the study participants “to closely matched real world data and meta-analytical controls” showed “significantly reduced” disease progression in participants in the Lucidity trial.

Professor Claude Wischik

In the early disease subgroup, there was a significant reduction in transition to the dementia stage of Alzheimer’s.

Professor Claude Wischik, the chief executive of TauRx, said there was “strong evidence” HMTM impacts the underlying pathology of Alzheimer’s.

“When we compared our results with natural history real world data, we found statistically significant differences in cognitive and functional outcomes supporting the benefits of HMTM,” he said.

“With the combination of a strong safety profile and accessibility offered by an orally administered drug, HMTM presents as a unique potential treatment option for patients and physicians.”

Warning over rise in dementia cases.

Dementia is one of the UK’s leading causes of death and Alzheimer’s disease is responsible for 50 per cent of these cases. The disease is also set to affect more than a million UK residents by the middle of this century as the population ages further.

Improved treatment and care pathways for those with the condition is a priority for every government in the UK, including Scotland, but the causes of the disease are still poorly understood.

Modern research focuses on the structure and role of ‘tau tangles’ in the development of Alzheimer’s, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other neurodegenerative diseases.

These ‘tangles’ are abnormal proteins, called tau, which impair the brain function of Alzheimer’s sufferers. Prof Wischik and the University of Aberdeen are the original discoverers of the composition of the tau protein pathology in Alzheimer’s.

The experimental compound involved in clinical trials belongs to a class of drugs known as tau aggregation inhibitors. According to TauRx, “by undoing the tangles that cause dementia, we aim to slow and potentially stop memory loss”.