Problems Associated with Medication Research into Alzheimer's Disease

Improvement Not Cure for Alzheimer's
At this point in time there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Part of the problem is that the disease itself or its cause is not fully understood. Drugs being investigated include cholinergic agents, anti-inflammatory agents, antioxidants, psychostimulants, Vitimins and estrogen.

Research findings and Alzheimer's
Research is ongoing to evaluate the different drug types and individual response to them. Current findings are highly variable. For instance, one director of The Alzheimer’s Association has said the cholinergic drugs such as Aricept seem to give the average sufferer of Alzheimer’s disease an extra 6 months to 1 year of improved cognitive functioning. The same drug in a recent British study (June 2004), the only independent study (independent of drug company funding) found the drugs were not cost effective and had barely any clinical effect.

Why is Alzheimer's research so inconsistent?
There are a number of reasons why research findings are so varied:

Not enough is known about the disease itself. Alzheimer’s can show itself in different ways from person to person

Neurological, anatomical and chemical differences in individuals and in disease process

People respond to drugs in very different ways

People’s personalities, life experiences, behavior and mood can change the way people appear to react to medication and disease process

Age of onset of Alzheimer’s differs

People are at different stages in the disease

Alzheimer’s disease is variable. The physical changes in the brain differ even within one stage of Alzheimer’s from person to person

Incorrect diagnosis

People have other co-existing diseases and disabilities

People on drug trials expect results so this can have a major impact on study findings

Research design problems Alzheimer's research
Another reason for inconsistent or varied results may be due to the design of the research/study. These include:

The way in which improvements are measured

Drug use- dosage ammount, drug administration route (injection, oral etc.)

Length of research

Length of time drug used

Variations in symptoms being targeted

There is an intimate relationship between research and treatment. Drug treatments for people with Alzheimer’s disease can be viewed from two main standpoints:

Those drugs that are prescribed to help the disease itself.

Medications to treat the psychological, behavioral and physical changes that occur as a result of degenerative diseases such as dementias.

Examples are (a) psychiatric medications to help with depression, anxiety, aggression and (b) drugs to help with diseases that are a result of the changing physical condition such as reduced mobility of the patient and are common to chronic disability or co-existing illnesses or old age, such as UTI’s (urinary tract infections), constipation, heart failure or stroke etc.