New Alzheimer’s meds could be the riskiest of all

There’s a new class of drugs speeding along the FDA’s fast track… straight to your doctor’s office.

They’re called BACE inhibitors, and Big Pharma will be sparing no expense in selling them to you as a way to treat — and even prevent — Alzheimer’s disease.

But these meds have been plagued with problems from the get-go. And there’s no reason to believe that they will become any safer (or better) once the prescriptions start flying off doctors’ pads like snowflakes in a blizzard.

And get this: It appears that these drugs will be aimed at anyone who’s having even the slightest sort of memory problem! In fact, patients having nothing more than “senior moments” may soon be frightened into taking these dangerous meds.

So, here’s what you need to know right now in order to protect yourself from Big Pharma’s latest attempt to reap enormous profits by preying on our fear of Alzheimer’s disease.

Brace yourself for BACE
There’s no doubt that Alzheimer’s disease is terrifying. But the solutions offered by Big Pharma have been a total failure so far. And this latest class of risky drugs doesn’t look as if it will change that track record one bit.

The idea behind these BACE inhibitors is about as complex as brain science can be: Stop the “cascade of molecular events” that leads to those amyloid plaques found in the brains of those suffering from the disease.

But taking that idea from paper to pill has caused some strange side effects. Merck investigated one BACE drug that caused rabbits and mice to mysteriously lose the color in their fur!

Nevertheless, the drugmaker soldiered on, testing it in people with “mild to moderate” Alzheimer’s until a committee found there was “virtually no chance of finding a positive clinical effect.”

But it appears as though nothing short of a brick wall will stop Merck from bringing this drug to market. Now, the drugmaker is testing the med (called verubecestat) in folks with “prodomal Alzheimer’s.”

While that may sound scary, it’s really just a tiny step above what you might call a senior moment. And approval of that med will be a gold mine for Merck, as practically anyone over 50 will be in its crosshairs.

As one expert commented, BACE inhibitors should be thought of like statin drugs — start them in middle age and give them for life. Yikes!

Then there was another BACE drug tested by Eli Lilly scientists that was almost “ready to go.” That is, until devastating damage began showing up in the retinas of rats being given the med. At that point, the drugmaker immediately halted human trials and rushed all the volunteers in for eye exams.

After that fiasco, another BACE drug trial had to be nipped in the bud when people started showing liver “abnormalities.”

So, you would think by this time, the BACE idea would be dead in the water.

But apparently that’s not the case — because AstraZenica and Eli Lilly have just joined forces to do the biggest drug trial yet for a new BACE med, called lanabecestat. The pair are currently recruiting around 2,000 people all over the country in a clinical trial dubbed DAYBREAK.

They’ve even received FDA fast-track approval for the med, and they are heavily advertising the DAYBREAK study in prime-time commercials showing a woman baking in her kitchen who can’t remember what an egg is for.

I don’t know exactly when the first BACE drug will hit the market, but I feel quite certain that these meds are going to be pushed on seniors whose minds and memories are working just fine.

Look, instead of heading off into uncharted pharmaceutical waters with drugs such as these, why not follow some tried and tested prevention tips that have been shown to help our brains stay sharp with no bizarre side effects?

These include engaging in mentally stimulating activities, taking B vitamins (which even have been shown to help people with early stages of dementia), eating more healthy fats such as coconut oil, and taking a daily fish oil supplement containing omega-3 fatty acids.

That healthy brain plan should also include taking as few drugs as possible — since there are over a hundred meds known to produce side effects that closely mimic the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

“Verubecestat halt fails to stop the bace chase” EP Vantage, Seeking Alpha, seekingalpha.com