Antidepressant could 'improve old age for millions' by slowing the progression of Alzheimer's

An existing antidepressant drug could ‘improve old age for millions’ by slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, Cambridge University scientists believe.

The first human trials will start later this year to determine if the drug trazodone can protect against the march of neurodegenerative conditions.

The medicine is already licensed in the UK for the treatment of depression but has not been used previously as a potential treatment for dementia.

If the early trials on healthy humans are successful, researchers will then test the drug on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients. 

They expect to confirm whether it is an effective treatment within five years.

An antidepressant drug could slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s (stock)

And, because the existing drug has already been shown to be safe, it could become available to patients as an NHS-approved treatment much more quickly than newly developed drugs.

Lead scientist Professor Giovanna Mallucci, of the UK Dementia Research Institute, said the drug was thought to work by boosting production rates of proteins which protect against brain cell death – a process known as protein synthesis.

She told the Dementias 2019 conference in London last week: ‘Delaying this process [of brain cell degeneration] will improve old age for millions, which I would consider an amazingly good result in the treatment of dementia.

‘If we could keep people at their early cognitive presentation or even just slow down the rate at which they decline, I think it would really transform lives.’

Brain cell degeneration is a common factor in dementia and other brain diseases, like Parkinson’s and CJD, also known as ‘mad cow disease’.

It happens when cells become stressed and stop producing enough protein, which makes them unable to work properly and leads to cell death.

Professor Mallucci said the drug would not be a ‘panacea’ or prevent the onset of dementia but positive results from early studies on cells and in mice suggested it could be a successful way of slowing progression of the condition.

Speaking after the conference, she said: ‘We are doing our first studies to see if trazodone boosts protein synthesis rates in humans later this year.

‘If the studies show it works in human brains in the same way [as it did in mice], I am really optimistic that we will see an effect from that in some patients – I’d be surprised if there was no effect.

‘I feel it’s likely to work in some people because it was so powerful in the animal model.’

Earlier this month, a separate study by University College London and Hong Kong University found no association between patients who prescribed trazodone for other conditions and a reduced risk of developing dementia.

But this study was based on examining medical records and did not take into account different doses or how long each patient took the medication for. 

It also looked only at prevention of the disease, not the slowing of progression or alleviation of symptoms.

There are 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to exceed 1million by 2025.

Dr David Reynolds, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: ‘We look forward to seeing Prof Mallucci’s early-stage research into trazodone as a treatment progress into clinical trials in people. The findings from studies in mice are promising, but what is true in animals does not always hold true in people.

‘Trazodone is a licensed antidepressant, and already used in some cases to help manage symptoms in Alzheimer’s.

‘The best way to see if trazodone could benefit people with dementia is through well-controlled clinical trials.’