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UK: Alzheimer's Hope for Ancient Sex
Remedy
By David Firn, Financial Times
June 24, 2003 London - An ancient
oriental remedy for the effects of too much sex is to be tested by
scientists from Oxford as a potential treatment for the brain damage that
causes Alzheimer's disease. The drug, codenamed
PYM50028, is being developed by Phytopharm, the biotechnology company that
specialises in plant-based medicines. Richard Dixey, chief
executive, said the treatment was a phytosteroid - a plant-based compound
similar to the sex hormones oestrogen and testosterone. "Alzheimer's
is a costly and growing problem, and it [the drug] could work against
motor neurone disease and other neurodegenerative diseases," he
added. Phytopharm
has already tested the drug's safety in humans. The Phase II clinical
trial will be carried out by Optima, a unit of Oxford University's
pharmacology department that is a world leader in studying dementia. The
trials will get under way later this year and are due to finish by the end
of 2004. Phytopharm shares shed 1½p at 255p. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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