Brain Chemistry Labs Senior Researcher Rachael Dunlop, PhD, had the pleasure of moderating a discussion with Charles Piller, investigative journalist for Science magazine, on his recent book, Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's, as part of the Jackson Hole Book Festival.
Widely regarded as a sobering book questioning the foundations of Alzheimer's disease research over the past several decades, this book is both eye-opening and disturbing as it traces the history of what's commonly called the "amyloid hypothesis" and questions its validity.
They opened with a discussion of the scientific community and how this misconduct could have occurred with regulatory bodies in place. However, they both acknowledged the glacial pace of such regulatory reviews. As such, the disheartening result is that the Alzheimer's research from the past several decades that has served as the foundation for much of the pharmaceutical research, as well as the basis for significant funding, has been based on doctored images and falsified research results. This could help explain why such little progress has been made on the Alzheimer's drug discovery front by many of the trusted institutions over these last few decades.
The resulting drugs that have been brought to market based on the amyloid hypothesis have been found to have either negligible or deleterious effects on patients. They have neither reversed nor slowed the disease progression, and--in many cases--have caused brain swelling, brain bleeds, and death of patients. One drug was pulled from the market altogether due to such severe side effects. Additionally, these drugs are prohibitively expensive. Yet, patients who believe they have no other choices often feel compelled to spend their life savings for the hope of what may be a small possible benefit despite the risks.
What lies ahead? Charles explained that a number of other theories are being pursued now that may hold promise. One is researching inflammation as a possible trigger, while another is researching a type of "diabetes of the brain" as another possible trigger, as current diabetes medications have been shown to have some potential for slowing the disease progression. Much more research needs to be done on these fronts to confirm--or disprove--these options.
Here at the Brain Chemistry Labs, we have discovered through our innovative field research that a naturally occurring amino acid, L-serine, holds much promise for slowing disease progression. Our clinical trial, underway at Houston Methodist Hospital, on Mild Cognitive Impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer's, is expected to be completed early next year; we anticipate announcing the results shortly thereafter.
For more on this research, watch this brief documentary from CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.