KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center researchers make progress with drug

At KU’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center, researchers reveal some positive findings from a drug used to treat Alzheimer’s.

The drug is called glutothyone and although it has only been used in the lab so far, Director of the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Dr. Russell Swerdlow, has said his team has found that the drug is activating the brain in a way that could lead to real results for patients.

Over the last 10 years Swerdlow’s team has been tweaking and testing the effectiveness and patient safety of glutothyone, reports 41 Action News, which is designed to speed up brain energy metabolism, essentially re-awakening the brain.

A prevalent disease among Americans, the Alzheimer’s Association Heart of America Chapter reports that every 65 seconds, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

“Decades ago, I decided that what I wanted to do is figure out what causes Alzheimer’s disease and how to fix it,” Swerdlow said.

After at least a decade of testing glutothyone, it has required a lot of research and alteration of the drug by Swerdlow and his team to lead to noticeable results.

Currently without a cure, Alzheimer’s Disease is known for the way it causes plaque to build up in the brain, leading to loss of several brain functions such as memory and motor ability, often resulting in death.

Although not a cure, how glutothyone is used as treatment for Alzheimer’s by partially reactivating the brain is promising.

“On a low dose of the drug, which we don’t think that had an impact, there’s really not much of a change,” Swerdlow said. “Then you start seeing more hot, fiery colors in a bigger area of the brain after they’ve been on the drug for a week. So, it looks like we were able to engage brain metabolism in a way that we’re revving it up.”

The next step is to determine the optimal dose and determine if it will improve the memory of people with Alzheimer’s disease, reports 41 Action News.