[ExI] bexarotene papers

BillK pharos at gmail.com
Thu Aug 9 20:27:47 UTC 2012


On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 8:30 PM, Dan wrote:
> Just reading the first news story, it appears one problem is no proven
> efficacy -- not proven non-efficacy. That means there's still hope it might
> work and this just depends on someone or some group doing the work to find
> out -- e.g., replicating the results in non-human models.
>

I agree. The first article is a cautionary warning to doctors.
No further testing has been done. The one mouse study has not even
been replicated yet, so it could be a fluke result.

Quote:
They noted that contrary to comments traded in Internet chat groups,
bexarotene has a host of adverse effects, including hyperlipidemia and
increased risk for acute pancreatitis, hypothyroidism, leukopenia, and
liver damage.

"Given these known risks, without evidence that bexarotene will be
effective against human Alzheimer's disease, and absent any guidance
as to the appropriate doses for this condition, the proper exercise of
clinical judgment should certainly lead physicians to counsel patients
and families that it is premature to prescribe bexarotene for this
purpose,"

In elderly Alzheimer's patients, many of whom take multiple
medications, bexarotene could interact and interfere with other drugs.
------------------------------

> The second paper mentioned, IIRC, seems to merely tell us that treatments
> must start earlier -- not so much that they won't work. Maybe the model here
> is something like rabies: vaccinate before symptoms are perceived. The
> problem, of course, is finding who's been "bitten" -- unless one wants to
> put everyone on the drug.
>
>

The second paper is for a different drug, bapineuzumab.
Quote:
On Monday, Pfizer announced it was abandoning its efforts to market
bapineuzumab, a drug that definitely cleared amyloid plaques in
people, after a second, large clinical trial found it did not make the
patients noticeably better.
----------

So they speculate that treatment should begin before the plaques and
the dementia become noticeable.
But it is only speculation.


BillK



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