Valsartan May Offset Alzheimer’s Complication (Blood Pressure Drug)

The drug, valsartan (Diovan), is widely prescribed to treat high blood pressure in elderly patients and was identified as being effective in preventing the build-up of beta-amyloid in the brain.

About Diovan

Blood Pressure Drug May Offset Alzheimer’s Complication

Some commonly-prescribed high blood pressure drugs may prevent the cognitive decline caused by Alzheimer’s disease, suggests research by a scientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

Dr. Giulio Maria Pasinetti injected different drugs into brain cells from animals genetically predisposed to develop the build up of beta-amyloid that occurs in Alzheimer’s disease and causes cognitive deterioration.

Among the agents that Pasinetti’s lab identified as showing promise in preventing beta-amyloid accumulation, seven were drugs that are commonly used to treat people with high blood pressure.

The findings, expected to be presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, in Nashville, Tenn., suggest that many older patients currently taking drugs to control high blood pressure may also be getting some cognitive protection, Pasinetti said.

One hypertension drug in particular was identified as being effective in preventing the build-up of beta-amyloid in the brain. The drug, valsartin (Diovan), is widely prescribed to treat high blood pressure in elderly patients.

It may be possible to pinpoint a concentration of the drug that blocks beta-amyloid accumulation but doesn’t affect blood pressure.

“If we can give this drug at concentrations that do not affect blood pressure, this drug could be made available for all members of the geriatric population identified as being at high risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease,” Pasinetti said in a prepared statement.

Pasinetti emphasized, however, that this line of research is still highly experimental.

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Anti-Hypertensives and Alzheimer’s

I believe that anti-hypertensive drugs make a difference and this has been the case with my mother. Small changes in her daily blood pressure readings can dramatically effect the quality of her day. I hope to see more research in this area and while it will likely come too late to help my mother it might benefit those coming behind her.

Based on the outcomes from initial drug screening, Dr. Pasinetti and his collaborators identified 7 out of 55 candidate drugs commonly prescribed for the treatment of hypertension, which are capable of significantly preventing beta-amyloid production, which is a major mechanism recently identified as playing a key role in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis, particularly in respect to promotion of memory loss and dementia.

Anti-Hypertensives and Alzheimer’s Drugs

A recent study has identified commonly prescribed drugs for the treatment of hypertension may be capable of preventing Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive deterioration (The Journal of Clinical Investigation, November 2007).

The research, conducted by Giulio Maria Pasinetti, MD, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, geriatrics and adult development and director of the Center of Excellence for Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Alzheimer’s disease at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, NY, suggests that a large number of geriatric patients currently under pharmacological treatment for high-blood pressure with certain anti-hypertensive drugs might reap the additional benefits of the cognitive effects of the drugs.

“If we can deliver certain anti-hypertensive drugs to patients at high risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease, at doses that do not affect blood pressure, these drugs could be made available for all members of the geriatric population identified as being at high risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Pasinetti.

Over the past two years, investigators directed by Dr. Pasinetti at Mount Sinai have been screening more than 1,500 drugs that are already commercially available for treatment of other disorders, to determine their potential value in treating Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impairment.

Based on the outcomes from initial drug screening, Dr. Pasinetti and his collaborators identified 7 out of 55 candidate drugs commonly prescribed for the treatment of hypertension, which are capable of significantly preventing beta-amyloid production, which is a major mechanism recently identified as playing a key role in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis, particularly in respect to promotion of memory loss and dementia.

In this study, Dr. Pasinetti reported that mice genetically determined to develop Alzheimer’s disease beta-amyloid production and subsequent cognitive deterioration, significantly benefit from the treatment with the anti-hypertensive agent Valsartan, found to pharmacologically prevent beta-amyloid production in the brain even when delivered to Alzheimer’ disease mice at doses three- to four-fold lower than the minimal equivalent dose prescribed for the treatment of hypertension in humans.

Other anti-hypertension drugs with beneficial results included Propranolol HCI, Carvedilol, Losartan, Nicardipine HCI, Amiloride HCI and Hydralazine HCI.

Showing the use of anti-hypertensive drugs with anti- beta-amyloid production activities in the brain of Alzheimer’ disease mice, will help in the identification of future, novel disease-modifying pharmacological treatments for the prevention of cognitive deterioration and eventually dementia in Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Pasinetti said he recognized the limitations of the research and noted that studies must be immediately verified in human subjects to verify the effect of the drugs on cognitive deterioration and memory functions independent of their role as an anti-hypertensive agent. “The use of these drugs for their potential anti-Alzheimer’s disease role is still highly experimental, and at this stage we have no clinical data beyond phenomenological observation in humans” he said. “We need to complete preventive and therapeutic clinical trials in the near future if we are to identify certain anti-hypertensive drugs with anti beta-amyloid antioligomeric activities, which will need to be prescribed at dosages that do not interfere with blood pressure in normotensive Alzheimer’s disease patients.”

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