
Scientists discover why many Alzheimer’s drugs fail, identify one that may work - tomduncalf
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/alzheimers-disease-drugs-treatment-beta-amyloid-fasudil-dementia-a8545591.html
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elcritch
Terrible article reinforcing bad science. The claim “beta-amyloid – which
causes the brain degeneration in Alzheimer’s” is a speculative hypothesis at
best. _sigh_

~~~
Filligree
To expand on that: Beta-amyloid plaques are correlated with Alzheimer's, but
of course correlation is not causation.

Among the many alternate theories is one that it's a defense against a viral
infection, so I wouldn't go and eat anti-plaque medication just yet.

~~~
jodrellblank
This article claims otherwise:
[https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201611/no-
known-...](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201611/no-known-
expiration-date)

" _Recent studies show that the plaques of amyloid proteins that accumulate
between brain cells and the tangles of tau proteins that cluster within brain
cells, both considered a signature of Alzheimer’s, also occur in many who have
no memory loss—and are absent in 35 to 40 percent of those who, by
neuropsychological testing, do. There’s no correlation between the presence of
plaques and cognitive function._ "

and

" _an earthquake of emerging evidence that cognitive impairment shows itself
only after decades of decay in the processes that power our brain cells,_ "

and

" _Much research suggests that at its core, Alzheimer’s disease—and garden
variety cognitive decline—may be a metabolic disorder, a perturbation in fuel
use by the brain, a process that loses efficiency with age and is inherently
influenced by what we eat_ "

and

" _Her studies of clinically and cognitively normal men and women in their 40s
and 50s show that even in middle age, the brain areas and functions most
vulnerable to disruption by Alzheimer’s pathology are already being affected
by diet, in ways that implicate typical American consumption patterns. Mosconi
doesn’t view Alzheimer’s as a disease of old age: “It’s a lifelong process
that starts young and reaches a tipping point only after age 50.”_ "

~~~
elcritch
Even worse! There's quite a fair amount of research indicating that the
earlier reports of correlations of the plaques and Alzheimer’s is not
causative. In addition the older research showing correlation between
Alzheimer and amyloid/tau plaques really is coming under more scrutiny (as the
PT article points out) as the plaques don't appear to relate to cognitive
decline. Though of course, the parent article has some chance of having a
correct or partially correct hypothesis as say plaque correlations only appear
in a subset of a genetic population and AZ is two distinct disease mechanisms
with different etiologies.

It's like the issue with statin's... a decent working hypothesis (but barely
flushed out past first year grad school research) gets postulated and scooped
up by the media. Then drug companies and publicly funded researchers spend
billions research interventionist drugs. Often without due diligence on the
fundamental scientific hypothesis -- good luck getting a grant on testing that
when they hype cycle is full on. Then you're left with an enormous amount of
money spent with debatable long term societal effects [1, 2, 3]. I wonder if
SV and VC getting more into medicine if these trends will get better or worse.
Though it's still possible that there's no way to discover the longer term
effect of cholesterol and statins unless you spend a few billion. But surely,
there's got to be better ways.

1: [https://www.express.co.uk/life-
style/health/828448/statins-w...](https://www.express.co.uk/life-
style/health/828448/statins-warning-heart-medicine-fail-harms-health-study-
reveals) 2:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513492/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513492/)
3:
[http://www.statinnation.net/blog/2018/1/8/quzr8nj3k9v23at4fe...](http://www.statinnation.net/blog/2018/1/8/quzr8nj3k9v23at4fe1k4bwcuvwi91)

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jwineinger
Would someone be able to do a study on people who have already been on this
drug and see if they get Alzheimer's at a lower rate than the general
population?

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modzu
i've been reading this same headline every year for 5 years :(

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kjullien
Must mean we're getting close !

~~~
wpasc
People tend to dislike sarcasm on HN. I, on the other hand, appreciate it when
it is well used. You've earned my upvote sir (or ma'am)

