14 DAY TRIAL // With the help of 41 volunteers, researchers with the University of Southampton in the UK have found that a common arthritis drug dubbed Etanercept has the potential to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's.
As part of their investigation, the scientists had some of the volunteers take the drug on a weekly basis for six months in a row. Other volunteers were given placebo.
Once this trial period came to an end, the volunteers, who all suffered from mild to moderate Alzheimer's, had their mental abilities tested, Medical Express informs.
It was thus discovered that the volunteers who had been administered Etanercept did not experience any major setbacks in terms of memory function or their ability to carry on with their daily routine.
By comparison, the Alzheimer's patients who took placebo all displayed a noteworthy decline in their overall health condition. Simply put, their memory function and behavior took a turn for the worse.
“Our results are better than we expected. We have shown that using Etanercept in patients who have Alzheimer's disease would be safe and has positive outcomes after six months,” says Professor Clive Holmes.
However, since this study also involved 41 volunteers, it might be that its findings are not all that reliable. As Clive Holmes puts it, “This is a small study and should now be tested in a larger clinical trial.”