Mental Health

Alzheimer's May Be Treatable By 2025, Experts

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Jan 15, 2016 09:40 AM EST

By 2025, Alzheimer's could be treated, said Professor John Hardy, an Alzheimer's expert from University College London, at the Royal Society in London.

While the trials are currently looking positive, their results will soon be out.

"I think we are on target for some therapies for 2025," said Hardy, according to the Daily Mail. "When the drug trial results come out - and if they're positive - we will know we are on the right road.... In the coming year, we will know if we are already at the start of a new era of better treatments for slowing or stopping the development of Alzheimer's disease."

It is exciting that in 2015, the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly tested a drug called solanezumab, which indicated that mental decline in those who suffered from mild Alzheimer's could be delayed by 30 percent. It was announced at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference held this past July in Canada.

Solanezumab treated not just the symptoms as has happened so far, but the illness itself, by clearing the buildup of amyloid plaques. Delaying the development of Alzheimer's by just five years could halve the mortality rate, said scientists.

Hence, those who may face the threat of dementia can be given drugs, just as patients threatened by heart attacks could be given statins.

"We're not at the stage yet where we have a drug like a statin. The kind of drugs we're talking about at the moment would be very expensive infusions," Dr. Simon Ridley from Alzheimer's Research U.K. told the Telegraph. "But, ultimately, you could think of it in those terms. If we have identified people at risk that's a reasonable assumption."

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