New imaging technology suggests an experimental drug for Alzheimer's reduces clumps of plaque in the brain by around 25 percent, lifting hopes for a medicine that disappointed in clinical tests two years ago. Bapineuzumab - being developed by Pfizer Inc, Elan Corp and Johnson & Johnson - is a potential game-changer because it could be the first drug to treat the underlying cause of the degenerative brain disease. “It demonstrated that the drug has an effect on the pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease,” lead researcher Juha Rinne from Finland's University of Turku told Reuters. Rinne and colleagues used a novel imaging substance called carbon-11-labelled Pittsburgh compound B, which sticks to areas of the brain where there is a lot of beta amyloid plaque. After 78 weeks, they found that patients had about a 25 percent reduction in plaque compared with those on placebo. The effect was similar with three different doses of the drug.
