In rodents, Nilvadipine, a calcium channel blocker, (1) reduces cerebrovascular damage due to high blood pressure (like any existing blood pressure drug would likely do) and (2) increases the rate of clearance of amyloid plaque from the brain into the circulation. In 2013, it entered Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer's, set to run through 2017, as detailed here: "8mg of Nilvadipine taken once a day at lunch time for 78 weeks". Alzforum has an excellent summary of the drug and its history here and other key details here. The dose in the trial is 8 mg, which seems like a waste of time because, as Alzforum notes, "Paris and colleagues validated the in-vitro findings in two transgenic mouse models of AD to show that intraperitoneal injections of 2 mg/kg of nilvadipine reduced amyloid-β levels in the brain and increased levels in the blood." So that's somewhere north of 100 mg for an adult human. However, Alzforum adds: "A small study had shown that nilvadipine in hypertensive patients with mild cognitive impairment prevented further cognitive decline for up to 20 months (Hanyu et al., 2007, here and here) and improved cerebral blood flow." I wonder what dose they were using; perhaps, at higher doses, we could extend the delay from 20 months to "indefinite". If anyone gets through the paywall, please let us know. Earlier that same year, Hanyu et al had published this paper regarding improved cerebral blood flow in human subjects.
Unlike most promising antidementia compounds, its price from peptide suppliers is on the order of $100/year at the 8 mg dose, for example, here. Granted, it is NOT approved for dementia treatment at this time, and it's FATAL at a sufficiently high dose. But at least, thanks to Bateau for introducing this compound in his Alzheimer's drug thread on 5/16/2015, we now know about it. This YouTube video is a succint introduction to the research. It's a wonder that this much has been known since 2012, and while the trial is ongoing, it has received little press attention.
Edited by resveratrol_guy, 18 June 2015 - 10:40 PM.
