Finding a cure for Alzheimer's would rank as one of mans greatest scientific achievements. It's a disease that up till now has baffled doctors, but a team of Swedish scientists claim to have made a huge breakthrough in the Alzheimer's battle.
They have developed a new jab, which it's claimed, could delay the onset of dementia by up to five years. But what's really exciting the medical world about this new development is that their research could be a huge step along the road to finding an overall cure.
The technical name for the new jab is CAD 106 and scientists tested it on patients with ages 50 through to 80, over a three year period. The results were extremely encouraging; they found that 3 out of 4 people had increased levels of antibodies in their blood, which suggests the vaccine had boosted their immune system. And, importantly, none of the participants had serious side effects.
With an aging world population Alzheimer's is considered one of the most urgent of all medical priorities, with over 650,000 people in the UK alone suffering from the disease.
Up until recently the medical profession has had no real answer to the debilitating disease which robs people of their memories, personalities and their ability to complete even the basic of tasks.
For many years people put up with Alzheimer's as just something that happened when you became elderly. But that opinion has been changing over recent years. This could be down in no small measure to the power of the baby boomer generation who are now reaching retirement and are demanding more help and treatment in this area.
Alzheimer's is one of the most emotive of illness as an individual losses faculties on a daily basis and it can have severe negative repercussions across the whole family when they have to witness the demise of a loved one.
This latest study was published in the Lacent Neurology and is being hailed as one of the major breakthroughs in this field. Leading researcher Professor Bengt Winblad, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said the results were extremely encouraging, with antibodies safely developed in patients, he concluded that the new jab CAD106 could delay the onset of Alzheimer's for up to 5 years in mild to moderate cases.
Head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK Dr Simon Ridley welcomed the new jab but said these were promising trials but said we now have to see if the drug really can be effective in fighting the disease across the board.
It's clear the world needs a cure for this terrible disease and although it may be early days scientists have made a major development with this new jab, which can be built upon; and we may finally have some much needed weaponry in the on-going Alzheimer's battle.
They have developed a new jab, which it's claimed, could delay the onset of dementia by up to five years. But what's really exciting the medical world about this new development is that their research could be a huge step along the road to finding an overall cure.
The technical name for the new jab is CAD 106 and scientists tested it on patients with ages 50 through to 80, over a three year period. The results were extremely encouraging; they found that 3 out of 4 people had increased levels of antibodies in their blood, which suggests the vaccine had boosted their immune system. And, importantly, none of the participants had serious side effects.
With an aging world population Alzheimer's is considered one of the most urgent of all medical priorities, with over 650,000 people in the UK alone suffering from the disease.
Up until recently the medical profession has had no real answer to the debilitating disease which robs people of their memories, personalities and their ability to complete even the basic of tasks.
For many years people put up with Alzheimer's as just something that happened when you became elderly. But that opinion has been changing over recent years. This could be down in no small measure to the power of the baby boomer generation who are now reaching retirement and are demanding more help and treatment in this area.
Alzheimer's is one of the most emotive of illness as an individual losses faculties on a daily basis and it can have severe negative repercussions across the whole family when they have to witness the demise of a loved one.
This latest study was published in the Lacent Neurology and is being hailed as one of the major breakthroughs in this field. Leading researcher Professor Bengt Winblad, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said the results were extremely encouraging, with antibodies safely developed in patients, he concluded that the new jab CAD106 could delay the onset of Alzheimer's for up to 5 years in mild to moderate cases.
Head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK Dr Simon Ridley welcomed the new jab but said these were promising trials but said we now have to see if the drug really can be effective in fighting the disease across the board.
It's clear the world needs a cure for this terrible disease and although it may be early days scientists have made a major development with this new jab, which can be built upon; and we may finally have some much needed weaponry in the on-going Alzheimer's battle.
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