Immunotherapy for Alzheimer's

Gretchen Heuring | ElderThink | 11.13.10

Immunotherapy is a medical treatment designed to produce immunity to a disease or to enhance resistance by the immune system. In other words, it coaxes our bodies to fight off a disease. Examples would be polio or chicken box vaccine. In response to immunotherapy, we develop immunity by producing antibodies that guard against invading organisms. An immunotherapy program for Alzheimer's is highly desirable. Imagine a vaccine for Alzheimer's.

Bapineuzumab is an antibody that has possible value for treatment of Alzheimer's because it acts against beta-amyloid, the plaque that causes Alzheimer's. Bapineuzumab is being developed as a drug and is in clinical trials, scheduled for release in 2012. The drug was developed by Élan, an Irish pharmaceutical company, in collaboration with Wyeth. Janssen, an affiliate of Johnson and Johnson is also collaborating on the development of this drug.

Another immunotherapy drug called Gammagard, developed by Baxter Laboratories, has been used for immunodeficiency for several years. It is now in clinical trial to discover if it will help the development of antibodies for beta-amyloid.

These two immunotherapy drugs, Bapineuzumab and Gammagard, show the most promise but there are other drugs in various stages of research and development. It's possible that we could have an Alzheimer's vaccine in the next few years.