Elder Law

Hope for New Alzheimer Drug Lost - New Study for another Treatment Provides Promise

By Levin & Perconti

According to an article in the New York Times, hopes were recently crushed crushed when an Alzheimer drug failed in its first late-stage clinical trial. The companies working on the drug, a start-up in San Francisco called Medivation and the world?s largest drug company, Pfizer, said that the drug, called Dimebon, ?had shown virtually no effect after six months in treating the cognitive decline or behavioral problems associated with Alzheimer?s when compared with a placebo.? The companies are now determining whether they will abandon other trials for Dimebon or whether Pfizer, which has been paying a majority of the costs, pulls out.

On a more positive note, researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago have found that people who view life with a sense of purpose and who set goals are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease or dementia. These findings could provide new treatment interventions for elderly adults. The report appears in the March issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti represent a number of people suffering from Alzheimer?s disease. As such, the attorneys at Levin and Perconti remain up to date on the latest ways they can best assist clients suffering from Alzheimer's both inside and outside the courtroom.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on March 12, 2010 (boomark / email).