Whats on the Horizon for Alzheimers Disease and IVIG News?
The medical and scientific community continues to search for important answers to combat and ultimately prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Research efforts have identified the beta amyloid protein as the component of the amyloid plaques that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Beta-amyloid is viewed by many researchers and clinicians as the underlying cause of the degeneration and dementia that characterize the illness. It has been discovered that IVIG, which is derived from human blood, contains antibodies that bind to the beta amyloid protein. Results from a recently presented clinical study show that IVIG appears to promote the clearance of beta amyloid from the brain and block its toxic effects on brain cells resulting in a stabilization or improvement in the global outcomes and activities of daily living of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Although IVIG is not currently approved to treat Alzheimer’s disease, in the fall of 2008, 35 academic institutions in con
