A cannabis-like drug can relieve agitation in patients with Alzheimer's

A synthetic cannabis drug used to treat nausea in cancer patients can also help calm agitation in patients with Alzheimer's disease. most troubling symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and can be difficult to manage. This is the reason why some patients with dementia receive antipsychotic or even physically restricted medications, measures that go against medical advice.

Often sedatives, anxiolytics and other drugs are administered to patients. all have a significant impact on their quality of life and the quality of life of their caregivers, "said Heather Snyder, senior director of medical operations for the Alzheimer's Association.

Doctors have long been looking for a drug that "The currently prescribed treatments for agitation in Alzheimer's disease do not work in everyone, and when they work, the The effect is low and they increase the risk of harmful side effects, including an increased risk of death. Krista Lanctôt, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center and the University of Toronto, who led the research, said in a statement

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The Lanctôt team tested the nabilone, a form Cannabis synthetic drug approved in the United States for the treatment of nausea caused by chemotherapy, and used in Canada to treat pain.

For six weeks, they gave the pill to 39 patients with dementia, then gave them a placebo for six more weeks.

"The agitation has improved significantly in patients taking nabilone over placebo," said the Alzheimer's Association in a summary of the research. Nabilone also significantly improved overall behavioral symptoms, compared with placebo, as measured by the neuropsychiatric inventory questionnaire.

However, the drug made patients sleepy. Lanctôt's team said that 45% of treated patients were sleepy when they were taking nabilone.And because it's a synthetic copy of THC, the high-output chemical marijuana, it also caused other effects.

"It has a euphoric and drowsy effect," Snyder told NBC News, "There are safety concerns."

L & # 39; Alzheimer's Association has made a point of saying that it does not just recommend giving marijuana to patients with Alzheimer's.

"Nabilone is not the same thing.C & # 39; is a synthetic cannabinoid manufactured using a specific component There are quality controls. There are controls on the dose, "said Snyder.

" Currently, marijuana is, essentially, an untested drug in Alzheimer's disease. Its potential efficacy and safety profile have not been thoroughly evaluated in clinical trials for people living with (or at risk for) dementia of Alzheimer's disease, "added the association in a statement

. would fill a "huge unmet medical need," said Dr. Howard Fillit, founding executive director and chief scientific director of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation, who was not involved in the research.

"The use of synthetic cannabinoids is a new approach in the treatment of agitation in patients with Alzheimer's," he said. "There is great interest and excellent scientific rationale for the use of cannabinoids in Alzheimer's disease that could include a disease-modifying effect that can be tested in subsequent studies." [19659004] Other teams have tried to test cannabis-like drugs in Alzheimer's disease. In 2003, another Canadian team tested Marinol, which is similar to nabilone, in some patients and found that it reduced agitation and helped them gain weight. But there have been doubts about the safety of drugs

Meanwhile, the Alzheimer's Association advises caregivers of patients with dementia who will agitate:

• Validate that the person seems to be angry at something.
• Separating the person from what seems to upset
• Engage in regular physical activity to potentially reduce irritability and aggressive behavior.
• Assess the presence of pain, constipation or any other physical problem.

Drugs may have unexpected effects in patients with Alzheimer's. A British team examined the effects of several sleep aids on patients with dementia and found that drugs made patients more likely to fall and break a bone. The drugs are known as "Z drugs" because their generic names begin with the letter Z: Ambien, known generically as zolpidem; Sonata, known generically as zaleplon; and zopiclone, a generic medicine similar to Lunesta.

The British study, which involved nearly 3,000 patients, found a 40 percent increased risk of a fracture when patients took one of the drugs

had a devastating impact, including loss of mobility, increased dependence and worsening of dementia, "said Dr. Chris Fox, professor of psychiatry at the Norwich Medical School of the University of East Anglia, in Great Britain

. drugs currently prescribed for sleep problems and other non-cognitive symptoms of dementia, "said Fox in a statement