Australians among first to test Alzheimer's drug The Melbourne
trial would be the first opportunity for Australians to test a
potentially preventative drug. Australians will be among the
first in the world to test new drugs hoped to ward off
Alzheimer's disease after doctors discovered the illness takes
decades to develop in people's brains before symptoms appear.
Director of nuclear medicine at the Austin Hospital, Professor
Chris Rowe, said Australians aged over 60 were now being invited
to trial drugs which could prevent the build-up of proteins in
the brain believed to cause the disease. Trials on participants
whose scans show early signs of dementia are likely to begin in
Melbourne later this year. The call for volunteers comes as a
study by Professor Rowe and his colleagues revealed the build-up
of these proteins could be seen on scans of people's brains over
about four years, allowing doctors to model the natural
development of the disease before it becomes detectable. The
findings pave the way for pre