Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death recently surpassing diabetes. If a cure is not found, ten million baby boomer's can expect to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's treatment is likely to be an enormous market so you can expect all kinds of alternative treatments to be popping out of the woodwork. Here comes Dr. Edward Tobinick and his claim that he has the cure--etanercept.
Dr. Tobinick claims he injects a shot of etanercept--a drug approved for arthritis-- into the neck of his patients. Unfortunately, in the video provided below, he closed the door when it was time to demonstrate the procedure.
He says,
"We leave them upside down or inclined on the examination table for about five minutes and what we believe happens is that blood flow reverses into the venous system and goes backwards into the brain...the injection targets a protein in the brain that causes inflammation...
Dr. Tobinick charges $800 per shot and more than $40,000 a year. It's not an approved Alzheimer's treatment so it is not covered by Medicare or Medicare HMOs.
There is some anecdotal support for Dr. Tobinicks's claims. A study published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation reports on a man with moderate Alzheimer's who could only identify one out of ten objects. Two hours after he was injected he named nine of them. I admit that is amazing.
Dr. Tobinick does have a small group of patients that swear by him.
"It's just given me my mom back," says Sherry FennellAt this time there are no large clinical trials, long-term studies, or animal experiments to back up Tobinick's claims. Alzheimer's experts say it's scientifically impossible for a shot to the spine to cross the blood-brain barrier. Mark Brody, M.D., president of Brain Matters Research right here in Delray Beach, says,
"I wouldn't do this if it was my mother, and I like my mother."Amazing treatment or a treatment too good to be true? I hope we find out soon.
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Previously published articles about etanercept on the Alzheimer's Reading Room
You can read Amgen's reaction to Dr Tobinick's use of entanercept here.
From WPTV--West Palm Beach
BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most feared diagnoses. First discovered in 1906 by German physician Alois Alzheimer, the brain illness is progressive and deadly. According to the Alzheimer's Association, it is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States with roughly five million people currently suffering from it. As the baby boomer generation ages, that figure is expected to reach 13.2 million in the next 50 years.
TREATMENT: There are currently two classes of medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat AD. Cholinesterase inhibitors, like the drugs Aricept, Exelon and Razadyne, are prescribed for mild to moderate AD. They may help slow or prevent symptoms from worsening for a period of time and help control some behavioral symptoms. The other class of drugs for AD are glutamate inhibitors like Namenda, which are prescribed to treat moderate to severe AD. Because the two types of drugs work very differently, they may be used in combination. They are not normally administered to patients who have lost their ability to communication or care for themselves.
BREAKTHROUGH DRUG? One of the most talked about news in Alzheimer's disease last year was a drug that purportedly produces drastic results within just minutes of administering it. Edward Tobinick, M.D., director of the Institute for Neurological Research in Los Angeles, Calif., is injecting etanercept -- a drug approved to treat arthritis -- through the neck of AD patients and into their spine. Difficulties in language function are a symptom often experienced by AD patients. According to Dr. Tobinick, the drug can rapidly improve language abilities. "What we see is an improvement in their ability to think and calculate," Dr. Tobinick was quoted as saying. "Their verbal ability improves, they find words easier, they seem happier, and we often also see an improvement in gait in those patients whose gait is affected."
Dr. Tobinick says the drug works by targeting tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a protein critical to the brain's immune system. TFN-apha regulates neural impulse transmission, but researchers believe in Alzheimer's disease, increased levels hinder that regulation and interfere with memory processes. TNF levels have been found to be up to 25-times higher in the fluid surrounding Alzheimer's patients' brains. Specifically, excess TNF-alpha increases amyloid production which in turn induces TNF-alpha. The unique perispinal delivery of etanercept allows the drug to enter the brain and block the TNF-alpha disruption, study authors said.
CONTROVERY: Amgen, the maker of ENBREL, the marketed version of etanercept, does not back the drug as a treatment for AD. A statement published on their Web site reads, "This off-label, unapproved treatment, administered by Dr. Edward Tobinick, is not supported nor endorsed by Amgen." The company notes a lack of scientific data to support ENBREL as an Alzheimer's therapy. "While Amgen and others have long recognized the potential role of inflammation in neurological conditions, we have carefully examined these reports and believe that there is insufficient and unsubstantiated scientific data to support the use of ENBREL as a means of treating Alzheimer's disease."
 Bob DeMarco is a citizen journalist, blogger, and Caregiver. In addition to being an experienced writer he taught at the University of Georgia , was an Associate Director and Limited Partner at Bear Stearns, the CEO of IP Group, and is a mentor. Bob currently resides in Delray Beach, FL where he cares for his mother, Dorothy, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. He has written more than 500 articles with more than 11,000 links to his work on the Internet. His content has been syndicated on Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Pluck, BlogCritics, and a growing list of newspaper websites. Bob is actively seeking syndication and writing assignments. |
