Can't Remember What I Forgot

The latest research on memory loss and the aging brain

Sue Halpern is scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College and author, most recently, of Can't Remember What I Forgot: The Good News From The Front Lines of Memory Research. See full bio

July 20, 2008, Memory

Pimp My Drug

Stock-optioning hope

Just about the same time last week that researchers were reporting that the much anticipated results of Elan Pharmaceutical's somewhat star-crossed Alzheimer's "vaccine" had failed to improve patients' cognition, another research group, this one led by Dr. Rachelle Doody at Baylor, published surprising findings about the effects of an antihistimine it was testing. In a clinical trial of 183 AD patients in Russia, those taking the drug--a medication that was actually shelved thirty years ago and is no longer sold anywhere--did better on cognitive tests than those taking a placebo; those taking the placebo continued to decline.

What are we to make of all of this? First, it's no surprise that the vaccine trial failed: This was predictable since plaque build-up occurs after brain cells have died, so that clearing the brain of plaques--which the vaccine did beautifully--does not revive those cells. Still, it was a valuable experiment, if only to prove that. And it's possible that the vaccine might be helpful if given to patients much earlier in the course of the disease.

But a decades-old antihistamine? Just maybe it will be the rare drug that improves the lives of people with Alzheimer's, to say nothing of their family members and caregivers, but so far no other research group has replicated these findings.

You may be wondering how this antihistamine works, and if you are, you're on the same page as Dr. Doody and her team since they, too, are in the dark. But speaking of the lead researcher, this much we do know: not only is she on the scientific advisory board of the company that owns the drug, she holds stock options in the company, too.

A week ago, before the results of the clinical trial were widely reported, the stock was trading around $13 a share. By week's end it was near $20. If you want to quantify hope, it's in that spread.