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October 24th, 2003

Octagam® offers hope to Alzheimer´s sufferers


Data presented at the recent German Society for Neurology meeting in Hamburg, may offer hope to the millions of patients and carers affected by Alzheimer´s disease.
A poster presented by Depboylu et al documented improvement in 6 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s Disease treated with six consecutive monthly infusions of Octagam®.

This data comes less than one month after publication of a study in the August 2003 edition of Archives of Neurology that predicted the Alzheimer’s epidemic will be far worse than previously thought.

The scale of the problem is staggering: Today there are thought to be around 18 million people in the world with dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, making up 55% of all cases.
Dementia is expected to increase steadily over the coming years to a point where there will be >34 million affected by 2005. 71% of sufferers will live in developing countries.

The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease will increase 27% by 2020, an astonishing 70% by 2030, and nearly 300% by 2050, unless science finds a way to slow the progression of the disease or prevent it.

“The solution to Alzheimer’s lies in finding a way to prevent the disease or delay its onset so that millions of people now at risk never suffer its disabling effects. The only way to do that is through investment in highly focused basic science research and clinical trials that will bring scientific discoveries out of the laboratory and into the hands of the people who will benefit from them,” said Sheldon Goldberg, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association

One such study is that undertaken by researchers from the Universities of Bonn, Munich, Frankfurt, Marburg and Indianapolis. Based on previous findings that Alzheimer´s patients have significantly lower levels of anti β-amyloid antibodies than non-demented controls, and that antibodies against β-amyloid are available in commercial IVIG preparations: 6 patients with Alzheimer’s Disease were treated with Octagam® and followed in a prospective, controlled clinical study.
Each of the patients received a dose of 0.4g/kg body weight on 3 consecutive days, every four weeks for 24 weeks.

Results:
  • In all patients the concentration of total β-amyloid in cerebrospinal fluid decreased following 6 months of treatment (mean 23.5%). Reducing the β-amyloid concentration in CSF is thought to have a beneficial effect on neuropsychological sequelae of Alzheimers disease.
  • At the end of 6 months treatment with Octagam, improvement was noted in the Alzheimer´s Disease Assessment scale. Mean improvement was 4.2 points. (7 points is equivalent to reversal of a years cognitive deterioration).
  • Mini-mental state examination scores (MMSE) were improved in 4/5 patients and visual construction abilities were improved in 3/5.
  • The study was completed by all 6 patients and no serious adverse events were noted.
“To me, it's like knitting with a knotted ball of wool. Every now and again I come to a knot. I try to unravel it but can't, so I knit the knot in. As time goes by, there are more knots” Alzheimer´s Disease patient
The results of this pilot study are promising and should encourage further detailed investigation into the use of IVIG for the treatment of Alzheimer´s disease.

More information on Alzheimer´s Disease can be found at: http://www.alz.org
(Clicking on this link will take you
outside the Octapharma web site)

(Please note Octagam® is not licensed
for the treatment of Alzheimers disease)


© Octapharma AG, 2003