Treatment with PBT2 was associated with a statistically significant reduction in cerebrospinal fluid levels of amyloid-beta-42 compared with placebo. PBT2 had no effect on biomarkers of disease.
Two measures of executive function on a neuropsychological test improved with PBT2 250 mg compared with placebo. No other improvements in cognition were noted.
"To go forward as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease, PBT2 must still overcome the high hurdle of additional safety and efficacy testing in large-scale clinical trials," editorialist Dr. Norman R. Relkin, from Weil Cornell Medical College in New York, comments.
"Because many factors affect the accumulation of amyloid beta, whether attenuation of the interactions of metal ions with amyloid-beta will be sufficient to alter the course of Alzheimer's disease is uncertain."
SOURCE: The Lancet, Neurology, July 28, 2008.
