This Thanksgiving, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation is grateful for our donors. Your support has enabled us to make tremendous progress in our search for effective treatments, and a cure, for Alzheimer’s disease.
Thanks to you, we’re funding an exciting portfolio of drug discovery research. This includes:
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A phase 1 clinical trial of rasagiline—an FDA-approved treatment for Parkinson’s—to test the drug’s efficacy in Alzheimer’s disease. Rasagiline has been shown to improve cognition in patients with Parkinson’s and may decrease the production of the amyloid plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.
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A phase 2a pilot study testing the benefits of benfotiamine, a derivative of vitamin B1, in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with Alzheimer’s experience a reduction in their's brain metabolism, which may be linked to a decrease in vitamin B1-dependent activity in the brain.
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A preclinical study to identify drugs that inhibit the activity of P2X7—a cell receptor involved in the inflammatory response. Researchers believe that decreasing brain inflammation, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, could benefit patients with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Today, we’ll be giving thanks at our table for your commitment to conquering Alzheimer’s disease and for the hard-working scientists driving this research forward.