Alzheimer 'Breakthrough' Tempts Families to Improvise

July 31, 2008 — -- What would you do if had an incurable disease and heard that something simple and common may help -- a chemical found at a pet store, or in an allergy drug, or a breakthrough injection a man in California developed?

It's the sort of dilemma Alan Romantowski, a former airline pilot, faces with each news story about Alzheimer's disease treatments.

"It is tempting; I'm taking ginseng, fish oil, ginkgo and all the over-the-counter things that the doctors say don't have any proof that it helps, but it doesn't hurt," said Romantowski, 55, who is suffering from the early stages of the disease.

And not all of the solutions Romantowski has sought have been from a pharmacy. Earlier this week, he says, he "was just about packing my bags to California" to try an unproven treatment that involved injections into his head -- that is, until his doctor let him know that the so-called breakthrough treatment he heard about in California was "wacky" and unproven.

But whether scientifically sound or wacky, any news about potential Alzheimer's treatments can fill a doctor's voicemail with calls from desperate families.

And a new potential treatment announced Tuesday may be no exception. Discussed at the annual Alzheimer's Association Meeting in Chicago, a drug called Rember sparked hope among researchers and within the Alzheimer community.

Rember has completed a phase II trial, which means it's a long way off from meeting FDA approval as a legal therapy. But, thus far the data has shown promise -- double the improvement in cognition than a placebo gives for patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease.

And the drug happens to have an active compound called methylene blue, which is found in medical and industrial dyes and in some pet shop fish medicine.

"I think there was an article about that in our paper this morning," said Josie Romantowski. "I actually even called my husband about it... as far as trying [a drug], what is there to lose really, at this point?"

Not, however, if it's in the form of blue jean dye or fish medicine, her husband said.

"You try to want to balance between being optimistic and aggressive, and not going into things that are just quackery," he said. "I would certainly discuss it with the neurologists, and if they thought it would be safe and wouldn't be a problem, I'd try anything."

Researchers found the effect of Rember by accident in 1986, when the active chemical in a test tube dissolved substances found in the brain which are thought to be involved in the development of Alzheimer's called "tangle filaments," said Claude M. Wischik, professor in mental health at the University of Aberdeen, U.K. and lead investigator of the Rember trial.

Over the years, there have been many uses found for this compound in medicine, from biological dyes to a treatment for cyanide poisoning.