This post may only interest those of you following experimental drug therapies for PSP and CBD, both tauopathies (disorders of the protein tau).
In a review article from 2011, three tau-directed compounds were listed — methylene blue, tideglusib, and Davunetide. Both the tideglusib and Davunetide trials in PSP were failures from a drug perspective. (The great thing is that the worldwide PSP clinical treatment community and patient community showed that a worldwide PSP trial could be conducted.)
Now comes news that methylene blue stopped cognitive decline in tau-transgenic mice but only if the compound was given at the earliest stages. This implies that if the compound were given in pre-symptomatic people with PSP or people in the early stages of CBD, that the compound might prevent them from getting worse. Unfortunately we don’t now when someone is pre-symptomatic or in the early stages of PSP or CBD.
Some of you might remember there was an experimental drug called Rember, based on methylene blue. The latest version of Rember is called LMT-X. There are clinical trials going on now of LMT-X in Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia. LMT-X is made by TauRx Therapeutics. One of the researchers there is Claude Wischik. On the website Alzforum, Dr. Wischik argues that the data for LMT-X in humans is more positive. And he’s still hopeful.
If you want all the nitty gritty details, check out this article on the Alzforum:
www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/et-tu-methylene-blue-drug-only-works-prophylactic
Robin