Promising Alzheimer’s therapy found to be ineffective

Scientists disprove suggestion that anti-cancer drug may be beneficial for treatment of Alzheimer’s

An anti-cancer drug touted as the next big thing in Alzheimer’s therapy has been found to be ineffective.   

Researchers at the University of Florida decided to carry out their own trial with bexarotene after a previous study on mice suggested it eroded the symptoms of cognitive decline.

In this latest research, appearing in the journal Science magazine, scientists were unable to replicate the findings of the previous study.

Although the first study claimed the drug worked within three days, the Florida team saw no significant reduction in the number or size of plaques in the animals’ brains even after a week of treatment.  

Since bexarotene can have side effects on the liver, blood and other metabolic systems, researchers are hesitant about carrying out clinical trials on humans.

Dr David Borchelt, professor of neuroscience, commented: “We thought it was important that something like this, which got a lot of publicity and patients were immediately looking to try to get access to this drug, that it was important to publish the fact we couldn’t reproduce the most exciting part of the study.”