Medical progress summary

Tweet Japanese scientists have developed an oral vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease that has proven effective and safe in mice. “We hope the Phase I trials go well,” Tabira said. “Animals are able to recover their functions after developing symptoms, but humans are less able to do so. It may be that this only works in the early stages of the disease, when symptoms are light.” The vaccine is made by inserting amyloid-producing genes into a non-harmful virus. When taken orally, the virus stimulates the immune system to attack and break down the amyloid proteins in the brain. About 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, a toll expected to reach a staggering 14 million by 2050 with the graying of the population.

A lot of drug cures for Alzheimer's have failed, but drug companies soldier onward

Various forms of dementia are being targeted with many different approaches

Cancer vaccines are nearing FDA approval Those who received Provenge lived four and a half months longer than those who did not.

370,000 Americans lack functioning kidneys. Three or four times every week, they visit a special clinic and sit for four hours as their blood is removed, cleaned and returned to their body. A new ceramic filter has the potential to make kidney dialysis much more efficient and to reduce by 30 minutes to one hour the time required for a dialysis treatment.

Clinical trials of a diabetes regenerative product, E1-INT showed more than half decreased their average daily insulin usage by more than 20 percent, or reduced their HbA1c levels (a long-term measure of blood sugar control) by 1.2 to 2 percent in the months post-treatment.

Human trials are starting on an artificial pancreas product

Clinical trials that are available for each type of disease are listed here