Epilepsy Drug Eyed as Alzheimer’s Treatment

Incorrect Drug Treatment Common in First-Episode Schizophrenia
Incorrect Drug Treatment Common in First-Episode Schizophrenia
Seniors with symptoms of amnestic mild cognitive impairment that took levetiracetam saw improved memory.

A novel therapeutic approach for an existing drug reverses a condition in elderly patients who are at high risk for dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found.

The drug, commonly used to treat epilepsy, calms hyperactivity in the brain of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a clinically recognized condition in which memory impairment is greater than expected for a person’s age and which greatly increases risk for Alzheimer’s dementia, according to the study published this week in NeuroImage: Clinical.

The findings validate the Johns Hopkins team’s initial conclusions, published three years ago in the journal Neuron. They also closely match the results in animal studies performed by the team and scientists elsewhere. Next, neuroscientist Michela Gallagher, the lead investigator, hopes the therapy will be tested in a large-scale, longer-term clinical trial.

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