Medications used to treat hypertension, diabetes and skin conditions could double as treatments for Alzheimer’s within 10 years according to a new study funded by Alzheimer’s Society and led by King’s College London.
Four existing drugs and one drug class could reduce risk or slow down symptoms of the disease. These include high blood pressure medications from the calcium channel blockers family which could substantially reduce risk of dementia; diabetes medications which stimulate the brain and have been shown to reduce the formation of plaques on the brain; Minocycline, a tetracycline antibiotic used to treat acne; and Acitretin, a drug used to treat psoriasis which researchers have shown to modify the way that proteins linked to dementia form.
