Amyloid Plaque News and Research

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Amyloid plaques in normal older individuals may be early signs of Alzheimer's

Researchers using two brain-imaging technologies have found that apparently normal older individuals with brain deposits of amyloid beta - the primary constituent of the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients - also had changes in brain structure similar to those seen in Alzheimer's patients.

31 Mar 2011

Zileuton can help reduce amyloid plaque formation and Alzheimer's development

A drug used to treat asthma has been shown to help reduce the formation of amyloid beta, a peptide in the brain that is implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Temple University's School of Medicine.

28 Mar 2011

Avid, Eli Lilly receive FDA complete response letter for Amyvid NDA

Eli Lilly and Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc., have received a complete response letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for their New Drug Application for Amyvid, a Positron Emission Tomography imaging agent under investigation for the detection of beta-amyloid plaque in the brains of living patients.

18 Mar 2011

Positron anticipates expanded market opportunity for Attrius PET scanner

Positron Corporation a molecular imaging solutions company focused on nuclear cardiology, announced today that with the conditional U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Eli Lilly's PET imaging agent Amyvid (florbetapir), it expects to see an expanded market opportunity for its Attrius® PET scanner.

8 Feb 2011

Green tea may help in Alzheimer’s disease: Study

A new study finds that a cup of green tea may protect against Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The researchers looked at the effects of a concentrated green tea extract that had been treated in the laboratory to mimic the effects of normal digestion.

9 Jan 2011

Lilly completes acquisition of Avid

Eli Lilly and Company today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held company developing novel molecular imaging compounds intended for the detection and monitoring of chronic human diseases. The transaction, first announced on November 8, 2010, has received the approval of Avid stockholders and clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. All other closing conditions have also been met.

20 Dec 2010

Case study sheds light on pathological course of Alzheimer's disease

A case study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet sheds light on the pathological course of Alzheimer's disease. The brain of the first Alzheimer's patient to display amyloids demonstrable with a PET scanner has been studied, both during progression of the disease and after death.

15 Dec 2010

Alzheimer’s research update

Alzheimer’s disease researchers have been working for a while with a small, sticky protein fragment, beta amyloid, that clumps into balls in the brains of patients with this degenerative neurological disease. It is a normal protein that is present in every normal brain but in Alzheimer’s it starts to accumulate into these balls or plaques. On buildup of amyloid symptoms of the disease appear.

13 Dec 2010

Radical change to Alzheimer’s management

The first disease-modifying drugs are expected to launch from 2013, radically changing the way Alzheimer’s disease is treated. With the potential to successfully slow or halt the progression of Alzheimer’s, blockbuster revenues are beckoning for such pipeline drugs, claims independent market analyst, Datamonitor.

23 Nov 2010

Eli Lilly to acquire Avid Radiopharmaceuticals

Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., a holding company that builds value in growth-stage life sciences and technology companies, today announced that partner company Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc. has signed a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by Eli Lilly and Company.

8 Nov 2010

Research on BMP6 protein suggests potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease

Elevated levels of a growth protein in the brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients is linked to impaired neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are generated, say researchers at the University of California, San Diego in today's edition of The Journal of Neuroscience.

17 Sep 2010

GE Healthcare's flutemetamol phase 2 study results published in 'Annals of Neurology'

GE Healthcare announced today that results from its multicenter phase 2 study of flutemetamol were published in the September issue of Annals of Neurology. Flutemetamol is an investigational positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agent being developed by GE Healthcare, in the field of brain imaging.

9 Sep 2010

Detection of Alzheimer's before symptoms occur

Research is on to detect the dreaded Alzheimer's disease even before any symptoms occur. In a newly proposed diagnostic criteria developed by experts from the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association three stages of the disease viz. pre-clinical Alzheimer's, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's dementia are described.

4 Aug 2010

Major breakthrough in Alzheimer's disease research

Researchers from the University of Sydney's Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease Laboratory have achieved a major breakthrough by finding the causes of Alzheimer's disease at a cellular level and thereby identifying a potential therapy as a result.

23 Jul 2010

Pre-clinical study results of EVP-0015962 presented at AAICAD 2010

EnVivo Pharmaceuticals today announced at the Alzheimer's Association 2010 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease results from its proprietary gamma-secretase modulator pre-clinical study. In a transgenic mouse model, EnVivo's EVP-0015962 reduced amyloid plaque buildup which is believed to be a cause of Alzheimer's disease, reversed behavioral deficits and reduced brain inflammation associated with Alzheimer's disease.

15 Jul 2010

Syntermed releases NeuroQ version 3.5 for analysis, image display of brain FDG-PET scans

At the Alzheimer's Association 2010 International Conference (ICAD) July 10-14 in Honolulu, HI, Syntermed, Inc. launched NeuroQ™ version 3.5, a nuclear medicine quantitative software platform for analysis and image display of brain FDG-PET scans. NeuroQ can increase physician accuracy in diagnosing and differentiating the many types of dementia, compared to visual interpretation alone of FDG-PET.

12 Jul 2010

Researcher uses biopharmaceutical proteases to develop novel therapy for Alzheimer's disease

A University of Oklahoma researcher is developing a novel therapy for Alzheimer's disease using "biopharmaceutical proteases" to attack the toxic plaque that builds up in the brain of an Alzheimer's patient-an approach that he predicts will be lower in cost and higher in effectiveness than current therapies.

9 Jul 2010

Scientists discover characteristic amyloid plaques in retinas from Alzheimer's disease patients

The nerve cell-damaging plaque that builds up in the brain with Alzheimer's disease also builds up in the retinas of the eyes - and it shows up there earlier, leading to the prospect that noninvasive optical imaging of the eyes could lead to earlier diagnosis, intervention and monitoring of the disease, according to new research.

25 Jun 2010

Research analyzes clinical connection of NPH to AD

Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus is a neurological condition which typically affects adults ages 55 and older. This condition was first described in the 1960s as a triad of gait disturbance, dementia, and bladder incontinence. The ventricles of the brain appear enlarged although the cerebrospinal fluid pressure remains normal.

5 May 2010

High sensitivity of Zetasizer Nano proves essential for protein aggregation studies

Dr Martin Muschol, Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida’s (USF) Department of Physics and his team are carrying out important research to gain a better understanding of protein aggregation phenomena, including protein crystallization and amyloid fibril growth. Using the Zetasizer Nano ZS, from Malvern Panalytical (Malvern Panalytical, UK), the USF researchers have been able to perform temperature controlled static and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements of protein hydration, protein interactions and aggregation kinetics in vitro.

From Malvern Panalytical 15 Apr 2010