FollowAlthough definitive proof from a more formal trial could be about five years away, but the latest analytic trial conducted by a large German study suggests that a cheap generic treatment for diabetes can preclude symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
According to studies, the intake of Pioglitazone, a widely used pill for type-2 diabetes by people and animals can decrease the probability of developing Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. The medicine is sold under the brand name Actos by Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.
The country’s biggest public insurer from 2004 to 2010 were studied by the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. The members of the group included 145,717 people of age 60 or older.
The study involved whether the people developed dementia and also whether they took Actos, once the world’s best-selling diabetes medicine. According to results presented today at the Alzheimerâs Association International Conference in Copenhagen, those on the drugs were 6 percent less likely to develop dementia.
The analysis concluded that for those taking pioglitazone, the risk of dementia was significantly reduced with each additional three months the drug was prescribed and 13,841 subjects eventually developed dementia.
Based on examination of health claims data, Anne Fink, a researcher for the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases who helped lead the trial concluded, “The long-term use of pioglitazone reduces the risk of dementia incidence”. At the annual meeting of the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Copenhagen on Monday, her data were demonstrated.
She conjectured that although other effects of the drug might also be at play but pioglitazone helped prevent Alzheimer’s by reducing inflammation in the brain and nervous system.
Medicines like Actos which are known as thiazolidinediones (TZDs) have shown almost 20 percent less risk of Alzheimer’s than those who took insulin. Those with poor blood sugar control are much more likely to develop dementia, according to separate earlier studies of patients with type 2 diabetes.
With the rate of occurrence doubling every five years for those between 65 and 85 years of age, some 18 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s.
