New Alzheimer's drug offers hope for end to 'terrifying' psychosis affecting half of all patients

Henry Bodkin
Updated
Pimavanserin targets the THT2A nerve receptor - DR ROBERT FRIEDLAND/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Pimavanserin targets the THT2A nerve receptor - DR ROBERT FRIEDLAND/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

A new drug promises to spare hundreds of thousands of Alzheimer’s sufferers from “terrifying” hallucinations and paranoia, researchers have announced.

Scientists have successfully tested the first medicine capable of treating psychosis, which affects around half of patients with the disease, without the devastating side-effects caused by current drugs.

Published in the Lancet Neurology, the trial of pimavanserin offers particular hope to those with advanced psychosis, which doctors often describe as the most distressing symptom of Alzheimer’s.

Currently people with dementia rely on mainstream antipsychotics, however these can double the speed at which brain function deteriorates, increase the risk of falls and lead to sedation.

Figures indicate they also cause 1,660 unnecessary strokes and 1,800 unnecessary deaths in the UK every year.

By contrast, pimavanserin, which targets a specific nerve receptor in the brain, was shown to significantly improve psychosis symptoms without the normal side-effects.

Researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School tested the drug on 90 patients with Alzheimer’s disease, giving a placebo to a further 90.

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It is now undergoing wide-scale phase III testing in the US, the results of which will be studied by European safety regulators.

The new study was sponsored ACADIA, which markets pimavanserin under the brand name Nuplazid.

Professor Clive Ballard, who led the research, said: ““Psychosis is a particularly terrifying symptom of Alzheimer’s disease.

“People may experience paranoia, or see, hear or smell things that are not there.

“It’s distressing both for those experiencing the delusions and for their carers.

“We urgently need to do better by them, and our encouraging results provides hope.”

Previously, the Alzheimer’s Society has called for pimavanserin to go through the European approval process for use on dementia patients who also have Parkinson’s.

Last night Dr Doug Brown, the charity’s chief policy and research officer, said of the new research: “This is important progress in an area where new treatments are desperately needed, and we look forward to seeing the results of the next phase of testing.”