Cholesterol control drug shown to reduce amyloid and brain inflammation

Research presented at Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) today has found that the cholesterol control drug, Gemfibrozil, reduces levels of amyloid and brain inflammation in mice. 

Dr Doug Brown, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society says:

'Repurposing existing drugs on the market as a new form of dementia treatment is an exciting avenue for new drug treatments, the likes of which we haven’t seen in the past 15 years.

'In fact, Alzheimer’s Society’s Drug Discovery programme aims to have new treatments helping people with dementia in half the time it takes to develop a brand new drug. 

'It’s really promising that Gemfibrozil, currently prescribed to control cholesterol, has been found to also reduce levels of the dementia-causing protein, amyloid, and brain inflammation. But these studies were only conducted on mice, and we need more studies to see if it will have the same effect in people.

'Right now, there are over 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK, and this number will reach 1 million by 2021. It is research like drug repurposing that is taking us a step closer to beating this devastating condition.'