Alzheimer’s Drugs Worsen Cognitive

Function
It’s becoming quite common these days to see news releases documenting
the failure of yet another experimental drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s
disease. In fact, one major pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, indicated in
February of this year that they were no longer going to pursue efforts to
develop a drug to treat this disease, which is now reaching epidemic
proportions.

That said, millions of Americans are already taking medication that is FDA
approved, to “treat” their Alzheimer’s disease. Since these medications are
FDA approved, one would expect that they’ve been extensively tested and
proven not only safe, but effective as well.
The largest class of medications that are aggressively prescribed for
Alzheimer’s patients are called cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), meaning
they inhibit a specific enzyme (cholinesterase) that breaks down a brain
chemical called acetylcholine. Reduced levels of acetylcholine is known to be
a hallmark of an Alzheimer’s brain. The logic here is that inhibiting the enzyme
might allow more acetylcholine to be present in the brain, proving helpful.
The problem is that there is no convincing evidence that inhibiting this enzyme
is helpful in terms of slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
Cholinesterase inhibiting drugs, like Aricept, again, are highly marketed and
highly prescribed, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars of annual
revenue.

On November 2, 2018, the American Medical Association, in their

journal, JAMA Network Open, published the results of an extensive meta-
analysis designed to determine the effectiveness not only of ChEIs, like
Aricept, but also another medication also approved called
memantine, marketed under the name Namenda. The research evaluated 10
high-quality studies published in peer-reviewed journals and included a total of
2,714 participants.
The findings of this study not only confirmed the lack of the effectiveness of
either of these drug types, used alone or combined, but actually demonstrated
that the use of these medications, again, drugs like Aricept and Namenda,
where shown to correlate to a faster rate of cognitive decline. Again, the very
drugs that are being prescribed across our country, and indeed around the
world, with the idea that they are somehow going to treat Alzheimer’s disease
are actually associated with a more aggressive decline in cognitive function:
… the very drugs that are being prescribed across our country and indeed
around the world with the idea that they are somehow going to treat
Alzheimer’s disease are actually associated with a more aggressive decline in
cognitive function.
When Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed in a loved one people want to do
absolutely everything they can to be as helpful as possible. Typically, they end
up in the doctor’s office and end up feeling somewhat grateful that they’ve
been given a prescription for an approved medication. But, the truth of the
matter is that there is no medication that has any effect on the time course of
this disease. Moreover, the medications that are prescribed actually make the
patients decline more quickly.

I am a neurologist, and over the course of my career I have interfaced with

countless families struggling to understand the implications of Alzheimer’s
disease. Further, to be sure, as I watched my own father lose his life from this
disease, I have connected with Alzheimer’s on a very personal level. If there
were a medication that helped, I would’ve prescribed it for my patients and
father as well.

It is beyond heart wrenching to recognize the incredible fraud that is being

perpetrated across the country as it relates to Alzheimer’s disease treatment.
It would be one thing if the medications simply didn’t work. But now that we
have learned that these medications are actually making people worse, it’s
really time that physicians change their approach and focus on the doctrine
underlying our profession – above all do no harm.