New study results show a possible linkage between the use of IVIg and a decreased chance of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Howard Fillit, of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, and his team of researchers evaluated the medical histories of 847 people over the age of 65 who had received one or more IVIg treatments in their life; as a comparison 84,700 medical records were analyzed for people who had never been treated with IVIg.
The results showed that a person who had received IVIg was 42% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. The occurrence of Alzheimer’s in people who had been treated with IVIg was 2.8%, compared to the 4.8% in people who did not receive IVIg.
Researchers are conducting more studies to investigate the effectiveness of intravenous immunoglobulin in reducing the chance of Alzheimer’s. Baxter Bioscience is helping to fund part of phase three of the study in which about 360 participants will receive IVIg treatments or a placebo every other week for 70 weeks. The trial should be finished in July 2011.
Researchers are hopeful that IVIg can be used in the future but do not recommend that it be administered as a treatment until all the trials have been completed and the results have been analyzed.
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Howard Fillit, M.D., clinical professor, geriatrics, neuroscience and medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City; Victor Henderson, M.D., professor, epidemiology and neurology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.; July 21, 2009, Neurology.
E-mail Dr. Fillit: hfillit@alzdiscovery.org