http://www.taurx.com/tau.htm

At first this might not be related to PD ... but it is.

You may all know that if you start searching for PD related articles, you also end up in research articles concerning other neuordegenerative diseases. So I also tend to read articles about Alzheimer. In Alzheimer scientist are always talking about beta amyloid protein. However, I seriously don't understand Alzheimer scientists. I know about a vaccination study they once did (I think around 2002 or so) and that was partly failed because people died from it. But a certain amount of them were lucky enough to have antibodies against beta amyloid. After many years of following them, the results were a bit dissapointing. The results showed a bit disease modification, but it was not spectacular. So these results could already give you the feeling that targeting of beta amyloid was not the big hope for Alzheimer patients.

However, despite this knowledge scientists kept hoping on the beta amyloid theory. They tested flurizan in the biggest clinical phase III trial ever conducted on Alzheimer patients. It costed 200 million dollars !!! Result: no disease modification. So 200 million dollars thrown in the garbage bin. Yesterday there was this article saying that people with a gene that makes them have 40 % less beta amyloid are protected against Alzheimer. Scientists were relieved because this shows they beta amyloid theory must have some validity.

For heaven's sake !!! This kind of attitude makes me really ****** off. Scientists are so stubbered !!! How much proof do you need that the beta amyloid path is not the holy grail in Alzheimer ??? I read an article, published in february of this year showing that mice genetically modified to produce lots of human tau protein get alzheimer because the tau protein goes from neuron to neuron like a prion and destroying each neuron on its path. So doesn't it make more sense to target the tau protein ??? It is not like the tau protein has never been known. They know about its relation with Alzheimer from the 80's already !!!

Anyway, TauRx Pharmaceuticals is a company that finally targets the tau protein. Finally !!! And on their website they put their results from their clinical phase II trial:

This study provided the first clinical indication that treatment with the Company’s proprietary Tau Protein Aggregation Inhibitors holds promise in modifying the progression of AD. rember™ showed evidence in the phase 2 trial of a significant reduction in the rate of clinical decline: 80% by weeks 50 and 102 of this trial, relative to controls, as measured using psychometric tools. Functional neuroimaging results from the trial supported the psychometric data: in patients exposed to rember™, the loss of function occurring in the areas of the brain known to be particularly affected by the Tau-tangle pathology of disease was eliminated over 6 months. Functional brain scan benefits seen at 6 months were predictive of clinical benefit at 12 months.

I realize this is only a clinical phase II trial, and not a phase III. But an 80 % reduction in decline over 102 weeks ??? That is amazing. Can people with PD get a similar reduction in decline if clumped alpha-synuclein is targeted ? Based on the studies on animals tau attacks the neurons in the same was as alpa-synuclein does. So I can't wait to see the clinical phase III trial for Alzheimer. The good thing is that the same company also has a product in their pipeline to target alpha-synuclein. For sure, I will put a lot of focus on the alzheimer results of this company because of the mechanism related to PD.