Some four million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer's disease, and that number is expected to grow as the population ages. Indeed, Alzheimer's is the leading cause of dementia among the elderly. A few medications are available to curb Alzheimer's symptoms but more research and new drugs are always welcome, and research continues to identify the cause of the illness.

Cerebrolysin is a drug that appears to improve mental function and behavior in Alzheimer's disease patients. The results of a recent clinical study of cerebrolysin were recently reported in the journal Clinical Drug Investigation.

Cerebrolysin is believed to mimic a naturally occurring growth factor in the body, resulting in the generation or support of nerve cells in the brain. Cerebrolysin is manufactured by Ebewe Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., of Austria, and is currently approved for marketing in 28 countries.

Dr. Xiao Shifu of the Shanghai Mental Health Center in China, and his colleagues in the Cerebrolysin Study Group, compared the effects of cerebrolysin to that of a placebo in 157 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. The drug was given intravenously five days a week for four weeks. The findings showed that measures of mental function improved to a significantly greater degree in the patients who received cerebrolysin compared to those who received the placebo. Moreover, the cerebrolysin group showed a trend toward improvement of the activities of daily living.

Side effects reported by patients receiving cerebrolysin were temporary and mild and ranged from a feeling of heat to agitation to hypersensitivity reactions. Clinical research on the drug will continue with the aim of obtaining marketing approval in the US and other countries.



This article appears in DRUG Infoline, PharmInfoNet's bimonthly newsletter about new drug development. For the current issue of DRUG Infoline, click http://www.pharminfo.com/pubs/druginfoline/druginfo_hp.html

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