“I confirm the delisting of anti-alzheimer drugs, and it is absolutely not for budgetary reasons. It is because these drugs have been shown by the HAS as being harmful and causing a lot of side effects, with fractures and falls. We de-reimburse so that people no longer use them “, indicated the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn, Wednesday May 30, on the set of “19/20” of France 3.
Beyond the recent controversy, the delisting of anti-Alzheimer drugs reflects a sad reality: almost 40 years after the disease was identified, there is still no treatment to cure it. “The brain is a very complicated problem. It is an organ that works 24 hours a day, consuming less energy than a light bulb. No computer is able to reproduce this”, explains Philippe Amouyel, physician-researcher specializing in cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, also Managing Director of the Alzheimer Foundation.
“Second, Alzheimer’s disease is not an acute disease. We have just understood that it starts early, very early. For research to be effective, we should start to study the pathology 4, 5, 10 years before
the first oversights appear, and follow the patients for two to three years afterwards, to see the evolution of the symptoms. “
The build-up of beta-amyloid protein begins very slowly
A new study, published in
The Journal of Neuroscience, has just demonstrated that the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein begins very slowly, years before the biomarkers become abnormal – o
We are talking here about 10, 20, 30 years before the first clinical signs. Beta-amyloid protein is the main component of amyloid plaques, a protein aggregate found in the neurons of people with certain neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. The presence of amyloid plaques would notably decrease communication between neurons.
Based on this postulate, current approaches to the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease are based on the classification of individuals as “positive” or “negative” according to the normality of this biomarker. If it is abnormal, the latest therapies are aimed at trying to dissolve the amyloid plaques, without success. “We can see that people who are 50 or 60 years old have aamyloid important compared to what one should expect. But as long as there is no treatment to act on it, there is no point in making an early diagnosis, apart from distressing the patient “, further analyzes Philippe Amouyel.
Avoid refraining from sneezing or coughing
Faced with this curative void, the only way to act against Alzheimer’s disease is prevention. Sport and maintaining social ties are known to slow the progression of the disease, while tobacco, alcohol and drugs, on the contrary, break down the body’s defenses more quickly. Other methods are more surprising: “we must avoid refraining from sneezing or coughing. If we do not allow air to pass, it impacts the brain”, further indicates Philippe Amouyel, in The Anti-Alzheimer’s Guide – Secrets to a Healthy Brain, recently published by Éditions du Recherches-Midi. “Ideally, you have to start protecting your brain as early as possible, and that becomes really necessary at the age of 40-45, ”he concludes.
Today in France, Alzheimer’s disease directly or indirectly affects 3 million people, and nearly 225,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. By 2020, if research does not progress, France will have 1,200,000 sick people.
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