Statins to Treat Alzheimer’s and Prevent Dementia?
An important new study has found that people who take statin drugs were about half as likely to develop dementia or clinically significant cognitive impairment as those who did not use statins (Neurology July 29, 2008; 71:344-355). This study was conducted by Mary Haan, epidemiology professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Haan said “The bottom line is that if a person takes statins over a course of about 5-7 years, it reduces the risk of dementia by half, and that’s a really big change.”
The Alzheimer’s Society commented on the news, stating “The jury is still out on how effective they are, but this study adds to growing evidence that they may have some benefits.” Currently Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ:NYMX) holds U.S. and global patent rights for the use of statin drugs for prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Haan said, “It’s likely that many people taking statins have already benefited unknowingly from the dementia fighting properties.” She continues, “We aren’t suggesting that people should take statins for purposes other than what they are indicated for, but hopefully this study and others will open the door to statin testing for dementia and other types of cognitive impairment.” The next step, Haan said, is to determine exactly how the statins work on the biochemical pathways involved in dementia.
Contrary reports on the effects of statins say the opposite - that statin use results in impaired brain functioning, coined ” Transient Global Amnesia, or TGA” including the story of Duane Graveline, MD, MPH, a retired family doctor and former NASA scientist/astronaut. He had been taking Lipitor for six weeks before he was found “wandering, confused, and reluctant to enter his own home because he didn’t recognize it or remember his wife’s name.” He was diagnosed as having transient global amnesia (TGA), but neither he nor his physician suspected that it was due to taking Lipitor. Six weeks later, after resuming the same dosage of Lipitor, the TGA returned. Dr. Graveline began to suspect the statin, and he contacted some physicians. After printing a letter in their column about the potential connection between Lipitor and TGA, they received hundreds of responses saying that they, too, had experienced severe memory loss while on Lipitor.
Still, memory loss is not a listed FDA side effect of statin drugs. One explanation, offered by Joel M. Kauffman, PhD, research professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, is that “in drug trials, the pharmaceutical companies often divide similar adverse effects into six or seven different categories to keep the scarier side effects under 1%.” Kauffman illustrated this point with the example that amnesia could be divided into confusion, memory loss, senility, and cognitive impairment.
So some say that memory loss is a side effect of statin drugs, and others that say statins are a preventative for dementia. What do you think? Are these reports contradictory? Please leave your comments below.