A is for Alzheimer’s disease

With just over a month left until the end of year, we decided to bring together the biggest and best pharmaceutical drug discovery news from over the last 12 months to make sure you’re up to date when it comes to our ever growing industry. An opportunity to look at how far we’ve come in our fight against the world’s deadliest and most widespread diseases, and how very far we still have to go in finding new drug targets and treatments against many more. From Alzheimer’s to Zika, drug discovery to preclinical studies, new treatments, better medicines, healthcare cuts and novel approaches – all to find solutions to the many unmet calls for aid seen around the globe, let Drug Target Review put you in the know.

A is for Alzheimer’s disease

Show me the money: Funding Alzheimer’s research

To get started in the quest to cure Alzheimer’s you need to fund the research. Read how the Medical Research Council (MRC) has created an interactive “map” that identifies biomedical research funding opportunities

Source: TED-Ed

Zebrafish’ regenerative skills as target

Researching mimicking symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in zebrafish brain showed how their regenerative skills might lie dormant in humans and might somehow be activated by pulling the right strings

Source: TED

Protein alleviates hallmark features of Alzheimer’s

Boosting levels of a specific protein in the brain alleviates hallmark features of Alzheimer’s disease in a mouse model of the disorder, according to research from the University of Birmingham

Source: LECMA Vaincre Alzheimer

Anti-inflammatory drug investigation

An experimental model of Alzheimer’s disease has been successfully treated with a commonly used anti-inflammatory drug, mefenamic acid. Scientists from the University of Manchester found that the drug, which is routinely used for period pain, completely reversed memory loss and brain inflammation in mice.

Source: TED-Ed

World first: Trial for vaccine targeting Alzheimer’s in Down’s syndrome

Plans for the world’s first clinical trial for a vaccine targeting Alzheimer’s disease-like characteristics in those with Down’s syndrome were announced earlier this year. Read all the details of the study here. 

CALL FOR WRITERS

Is this your specialist subject? Are you a scientist, student or do you work in the pharmaceutical industry? If you’d like contribute an article to the website and/or become one of our expert writers, please do get in touch with Niamh Marriott.