Announcing a 25,000 Strong Alzheimer's Community Committed to a New Era in Alzheimer's

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, Nov. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MediciGlobal Inc., announced today that over 25,000 fans have shown their support for clinical research by joining the Facebook page Alzheimer's Team. The community supports research efforts into clinical research aimed at halting the progression of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

"We are the first Facebook community to inform people about the role of Tau tangles in Alzheimer's disease, and the development of the first Tau Aggregation Inhibitor (TAI)," said Liz Moench, President of MediciGlobal, a company dedicated to informing patients and their families about clinical research opportunities, and administrators of Alzheimer's Team. Moench adds that "Even though the tangles in the brain were first reported by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1907,¹ few people are aware of the century-long journey that has been undertaken to understand the pathology leading to their formation, their role in dementia, and, ultimately, potentially stopping their spread through the brain to cause advanced Alzheimer's.

"Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers are eager to find an effective treatment that can actually arrest the progression of the disease, since no such treatment is currently available today." Adds Moench, "Our Facebook page is encouraging people to learn more about the emerging science about Alzheimer's including the role of the Tau tangles in Alzheimer's." Tau tangles first appear in the brain some 30 years before the clinical impact of the disease process in Alzheimer's becomes apparent, but this fact is not well known. In Alzheimer's, Tau tangles first destroy nerve cells critical for memory and then destroy neurons in other parts of the brain as the Tau aggregation process spreads from neuron to neuron throughout the brain. A change in research direction has given many people hope in the face of many failed studies involving amyloid-based approaches to battling Alzheimer's.

According to Moench, Alzheimer's Team is playing an important role in sharing clinical trial results and new research opportunities among the Alzheimer's community. The page has informed members about one such clinical trial that could provide the first definitive data on a disease-modifying and preventative treatment of Alzheimer's, supported by TauRx Therapeutics. A video link from Alzheimer's Team to TauRx's Therapeutics' website informs visitors that a 90% reduction in the rate of disease progression was achieved in its Phase 2 clinical trial over a two year period, and that a Phase 3 clinical trial involving 1330 patients in 21 countries is now getting underway.^2,3

Patients and caregivers are invited to sign up for study updates on Alzheimer's Team Facebook page at www.AlzheimersStudies.com.  

Currently, visitors to the Facebook page number over two million weekly. Importantly, these visitors span more than 20 countries, with the U.S., Brazil, Italy, Spain, Canada and UK representing the countries with the most visitors, with other countries closely behind.

"Alzheimer's has the potential to bankrupt economies," says Moench. "Getting people involved in research studies with the potential to change the course of this disease is why Alzheimer's Team is playing a role in raising awareness for research studies." Alzheimer's Team can be found at https://www.facebook.com/AlzheimersTeam.

About Alzheimer's Disease and Tau Tangles:

Alzheimer's disease is one of the most important health challenges worldwide, and the most-common type of dementia. According to the Geneva-based World Health Organization, global dementia cases are expected to double within 20 years to an estimated 65.7 million people [more than the entire population of France currently at 63 million people].⁴ In very early, asymptomatic Alzheimer's, pre-tangle Tau aggregates (oligomers) and Tau protein tangles are already present in the same regions of the brain where neuronal degeneration and loss of neuronal cells eventually occur.^5,6 These changes first appear 20 – 30 years before the disease becomes clinically evident. With time, Tau tangles spread from the entorhinal cortex (responsible for learning, memory, thinking and planning) through the hippocampus to the neocortex (affecting the ability to communicate, recognize family and loved ones and to care for oneself), resulting in neuronal dysfunction and worsening of clinical symptoms.⁶ The spread is now thought to be due to a prion-like process whereby the oligomers act as 'infectious particles' which are able to propagate the abnormal aggregation of Tau protein from one neurone to the next.⁷ These oligomers recruit normal Tau to produce yet more infectious oligomers which spread neuronal destruction throughout the brain. 

About MediciGlobal:

MediciGlobal is in the business of making a meaningful difference to patient health—by identifying and engaging patients for clinical trials, and by building deep and lasting connections with our many stakeholders. Our clinical trial recruitment practices are guided by global standards and by our concern for the lives of the patients who put their trust in us. We're also making certain that those who participate in these trials fully understand what clinical trial participation means, and that their participation is guarded by strict privacy policies. MediciGlobal meets BBB OnLine® and WBENC accreditation standards and is certified as a Safe Harbor company. Visit www.mediciglobal.com to learn more. 

About TauRx Therapeutics:

TauRx Therapeutics Ltd was established in Singapore in 2002 with the aim of developing new treatments and diagnostics for a range of neurodegenerative diseases based on an entirely new approach which targets aggregates of abnormal fibres of Tau protein that form inside nerve cells in the brain, giving rise to Tangles. The TauRx team have since discovered that LMTX™ could also have beneficial effects in several other neurodegenerative diseases associated with Tau pathology, as well as other protein aggregation disorders including Parkinson's, Huntington's, Frontotemporal Dementia [FTD-Pick's Disease], Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Cortico-Basal Degeneration. While TauRx corporate headquarters are in Singapore, its primary research facilities are in Aberdeen, Scotland. Visit www.TauRx.com to learn more. 

References:

1. Alzheimer A. On a peculiar disease of the cerebral cortex. Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie und Psychisch-Geritlich Medicin 1907;64:146-148.
2. Wischik CM, Bentham P, Wischik DJ, Seng KM. Tau aggregation inhibitor (TAI) therapy with rember^TM arrests disease progression in mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease over 50 weeks. Alzheimer's and Dementia 2008;4:T167. Abstract available at: http://www.alzheimersanddementia.com/article/S1552-5260(08)00598-0/fulltext. Accessed October 2012.
3. ClinicalTrials.gov. Safety and efficacy study evaluating TRx0237 in subjects with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Available at: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01689246. Accessed October 2012.
4. World Health Organization News Release. Dementia cases set to triple by 2050 but still largely ignored. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2012/dementia_20120411/en/index.html. Accessed October 2012.
5. Mukaetova-Ladinska EB, Garcia-Sierra F, Hurt J, Gertz HJ, Xuereb JH, Hills R, et al. Staging of cytoskeletal and beta-amyloid changes in human isocortex reveals biphasic synaptic protein response during progression of Alzheimer's disease. Am J Pathol 2000;157:623-636. Full article available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1850134/. Accessed October 2012.
6. Braak H, Braak E. Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes. Acta Neuropathol 1991;82:239-259. Abstract available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1759558. Accessed October 2012.
7. Soto C. Transmissible proteins: expanding the prion heresy. Cell 2012; 149:968-977. Full article available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867412005818. Accessed October 2012.

SOURCE MediciGlobal Inc.