Baxter’s Gammagard Shows Alzheimer’s Benefit In Study

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-17/baxter-s-gammagard-shows-alzheimer-s-benefit-in-study.html

Baxter International Inc. (BAX)’s Gammagard, used to treat immune system disorders, halted the progression of Alzheimer’s disease for as long as three years in a trial of 16 patients, researchers said.

In the study, four patients given the ideal dose at the start of the trial experienced lasting improvement. Five patients initially given a placebo and seven others on varying amounts of Gammagard, experienced no benefit until they were switched to the right dose, according to the research presented at the Alzheimer’s Association’s annual meeting in Vancouver.

The result offers a “tantalizing” glimpse of the drug’s potential, said William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer at the Alzheimer’s Association. A definitive study of 390 patients will be completed this year and released in early 2013, said Norman Relkin, the lead researcher, and the director of the Memory Disorders Program and a neurologist at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

“It’s extraordinarily unusual,” to have such a striking effect in all the treated patients, Relkin said in an interview. “In my practice, which I think is reflective of most Alzheimer’s specialists in the world, if we see a patient go more than 18 months without changing their scores, we question whether they actually have Alzheimer’s disease.”