Comments on: Prospective Alzheimer’s drug builds new brain-cell connections

By: Phil Osborn

Phil Osborn — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 02:58:02 +0000

There are currently companies offering to clone your stem cells and reinject them to rebuild whatever is worn out, and a hundred other amazing claims, if you have the money to pay for them. Some of them might actually work, but don’t expect any FDA sign-offs on them. SF has often speculated about a future in which you live as long as you can pay for, with significant class divisions between the ageless and the general population – e.g., Ira Levin’s “This Perfect Day.” It may be happening, for real. Maybe you’ll get an “invite” some day, a free pass back to youth if only you do some simple task, like passing on corporate secrets…

That’s the potential cost of a dysfunctional system as other posters have noted, in which the only incentive – at the FDA or other regulatory bodies – is to cover one’s butt, avoid or cover every possible risk, many times over, while the new drug lords offer immortality for immorality. Will you sign on to be a neo-gangbanger in return for LIFE?

By: Steven Wright

Steven Wright — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:45:03 +0000

Limitless was an interesting movie, wasn’t it? When you mentioned South Korea, that made me wonder if there’s more hope of seeking this type of medicine in Europe, too. India came to mind, also. It seems ridiculous that we would need to look to a recent 3rd world country to find the best medicine. America is so worried that someone might sue, that we can’t get things done anymore.

By: JFH

JFH — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:28:35 +0000

That was my first thought…”what if a healthy brain was exposed to this drug???” Enhancement? Poison? Or no change?

Interesting stuff.

By: Carl Brooks

Carl Brooks — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 23:24:45 +0000

Who’s AI is this?? Ramona? is that you?

By: Klaatu

Klaatu — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:07:43 +0000

If there is anything to this you can believe that some rich
guy is going to jump the peer review process and get the
thing to human testing.

Different topic: a bunch of corporate types just figured out
how to jumpstart the various state bureaucracies to
house homeless veterans nationally. It was beyond
complicated but it was done. The same can be done
with the big A IF ISN’T JUST BID FOR FUNDING.

By: Klaatu

Klaatu — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 21:54:16 +0000

like some mortgages…

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 03:34:53 +0000

Hi. Check out this link. It talks about eye drops that can increase BDNF.

http://www.architalbiol.org/aib/article/view/149205

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 19:07:13 +0000

especially if our keys are underwater…

By: djk

djk — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 10:59:23 +0000

Sadly we have so many cures out there all ready and the FDA has killed thousands of people by not letting these drugs through. It has been said that the FDA will let 100,000 people die by not approving a drug rather then suffer the consequence of allowing that same drug to kill 5 people through some side effect. They are about CYA, politics, career protection, and legal protection. They recieve no flack for holding back the drugs. They simply blame the disease while they tie up the drugs in endless and expensive testing. Meanwhile our loved ones die while they fiddle. It will take many beurocrats families to die before these drugs start getting passed

By: thomas

thomas — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 07:41:11 +0000

Interesting idea — what makes you think of autism?

By: Lois Toevs

Lois Toevs — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:31:21 +0000

I have Alzheimer’s Disease. My only way to benefit from this new discovery is to grow a tail, a longer nose and apply to the researchers as a test rat volunteer. Too bad there is nothing NOW for me as I daily lose cognition and memory. But good article and hope for others is comforting.

By: Bri

Bri — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:27:40 +0000

Wooooow!!!!!

By: melajara

melajara — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 21:12:05 +0000

Good, I suggest the following little experiment.

Let’s take a pair of homozygous twins in good shape and at least eighty years old with NO musical training. Both will be “incarcerated” to prevent any different influence on them for the 3 months experiment.

Twin A will take Dihexa, twin B a placebo regularly for, say 3 months. The main activity will be for them to attend daily piano lessons delivered by the same teacher but not simultaneously as the twins will be prevented to communicate.

At the end of the experiment, the efficacy of Dihexa on their piano training will be assessed by professional judges listening to a piano recital where both will be required to play the same opus ;-)

By: Marcos Marin

Marcos Marin — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 20:24:42 +0000

yeah, from alzheimer to autism at top speed! within days right? hmm…

By: JC

JC — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 19:40:40 +0000

The PDF in the link is readable for free. This is hugely exciting. There are so many people on death’s doorstep with neurodegenerative diseases I imagine volunteers for safety testing will be easy to find. The older rats got big performance gains and fast, within days! “Figure 5 indicate that dihexa significantly improved performance (p<.05) on most of the test days. It should be noted that because these aged rats were not pre-screened for cognitive deficits the results substantially underestimate the effect of dihexa." from link.

By: someday69

someday69 — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 19:03:52 +0000

Sure’yea’I'll drink’some’of’that’Tea,,but,,just wait’for the digital’version…I’know ah’guy::,,,who’gets’ it’off”big’Pharma’s'own,oringal’soft’ware’app.template- You get an’absoute’pure’fix’,,,,In’ah’hard’disk’..once’open’,,it’s good’for six..You’in..were on’for it.in two’hrs?? Yea’Neo’that’s'im….you know’em too??Maybe’between’the two of us babe’mabye we can’get’em ‘OUT..he’sz such’ah’re’clues…

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:49:44 +0000

If we were benefiting from every breakthrough these rats seem to be, I figure would be living at least 150 years of perfect health and be cured of any possible disease I may get in the meantime. It seems I have been hearing about a new alzheimers breakthrough miracle treatment every couple of weeks for at least the last decade. However, my grandmother developed dementia several years ago and doesn’t even remember who I am. Why is this when I keep hearing about all these wonderful breakthroughs? Same with cancer, I seem to hear every other week or so about how we are on the verge of being able to zap cancer with a bunch of gold nanoparticles or whatever that can directly target tumor cells. Yet my aunt died of cancer last year and to my knowledge all she got was old fashioned chemo therapy, no miracle nano particles that I keep hearing about. I will believe this one when I see it.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:46:09 +0000

I hope James Franco doesn’t give any of this new prospective Alzheimer’s drug to any errant monkeys…

By: JC

JC — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 17:20:17 +0000

I am very pro pro-cognitive agents. This one sounds like the first version of the drug from the movie Limitless. I can hear the South Korean labs gearing up at top speed to make this from here (San Francisco). Perhaps a free sample will be schwag at next years Singularity Summit!

By: Gorden Russell

Gorden Russell — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 13:34:48 +0000

When rats can find a hidden platform, then we can find our keys.