Introduction

Memory enhancing drugs are in the pipelines of several biopharmaceutical companies, and Alzheimer's and MS patients may be the first beneficiaries of the technology. Promising clinical studies are one thing, actual commercial usage is another.   

 
Scientists have been focusing on a new class of drugs called ampakines which increase the flow of acetylcholine to the brain and heighten the mind's ability to process information better and even create new memories.

Two other drugs are 'Donepezil' which improved memory by an average of 14 percent and 'Ropren' which has shown a 15-20 percent improvement in memory and cognitive function.
 

New Generations Of Drugs To Combat Memory Loss

The biotechnology industry is tantalizingly close to creating a drug that can help the memories of ageing baby boomers as well as boost the healthy memory of college students.  It is growing increasingly clear that clinical researchers are beginning to crack the code surrounding the molecular details of how memory works.

These drug makers claim their emerging products can cure or halt the disease in which brain cells deteriorate and die, robbing people of their memory.
 

An article on Forbes.com said that much of the hard work in decoding memory neurons has already been completed. Identifying the genes and proteins inside brain cells that regulate memory formation was the first step. "They are tantalizingly close to creating a kind of Viagra for the brain: a chemical that reinvigorates an organ that has faded with age. This new generation of drugs could mend memory loss in the seriously ill or the merely absentminded."
 

According to Eric Kandel, the founder of Memory Pharmaceuticals who has been working on memory-enhancing drugs since the 1950s, the end is in sight for a solution.
 

"My friends keep asking when the little red pill is coming," he tells Forbes.com/. "If we continue making the kind of progress we are now, we will have drugs for age-related memory loss in five to ten years," he says. And it could come sooner. Researchers at New York-based Helicon Therapeutics say they hope to launch human trials for memory improvement drugs by 2007.

Imagine the four million Americans suffering from Alzheimers disease steadily getting their memories back? Or about head trauma sufferers or stroke patients who couple memory drugs with cognitive therapies to regain their memories and recognize their loved ones once again?

Roughly one third of all people age 60 and over suffer from memory and recall woes. About one quarter of people age 85 and over are afflicted with dementia. Baby boomers would surely welcome a drug that forestalls the onslaught of memory loss.

Drug companies are also looking at the market of unimpaired people. Take the 40 year old salesman trying to remember the names of his customers or the student trying to cram in copious amounts of last minutes study.
 

Ampakines

Scientists have been focusing on a new class of drugs called ampakines, where evidence shows that it could increase the flow of acetylcholine to the brain and heighten the mind's ability to process information better and even create new memories. For years, spiritualists have touted the beneficial effects of ginseng (an extract from the leaves of the 200-million-year-old ginkgo tree). Some studies have claimed that ginseng improves the flow of oxygen to the brain and helps Alzheimers sufferers, for example, stave off the onset of dementia.
 

But clinical data are beginning to show that ampakines could wind up making ginseng look like a piker. From a recent study by New Scientist magazine, research shows that ampakine – tested under the clinical name CX717 at the University of Surrey in the UK significantly improved the memories of 16 male study participants between the ages of 18 and 45.
 

Study researchers, using an ampakine pill developed by California-based Cortex, found that even small doses of the drug improved study participants' memories even after being kept up all night. The more ampakine the study subjects ingested, the better their memories tested with study researchers.
 

Another (May 2004) study, this one by scientists from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, demonstrated in a unique primate model that the CX717 pill from Cortex improved cognitive performance and also reversed the deleterious effects of sleep deprivation. The research at Wake Forest provided the basis for conducting a Phase II sleep deprivation study in humans, which confirmed CX717 improved wakefulness, memory, cognition, and attention without causing systemic stimulation in subjects that were sleep deprived. 
 
Donepezil

Donepezil, is showing both scientific and commercial promise as well. According to a 2005 study by the American Academy of Neurology, the drug may improve the memory of Alzheimers patients and those suffering with multiple sclerosis (MS).

The study involved 69 people with MS and mild cognitive problems. One-half of the participants took the donepezil for 24 weeks and the other half took a placebo. The participants were tested for memory and other cognitive functions at the beginning and end of the study.

At the study's conclusion those taking donepezil improved by an average of 14 percent on the memory test, compared to a 3-percent improvement for those taking the placebo. And 66 percent of those taking the drug felt that their memory had improved, compared to 32 percent of those taking the placebo.
 

"The possibility that memory and cognitive impairment in MS could benefit from drug treatment is of major importance to patients and their families," said study author and neurologist Lauren Krupp, MD, of Stony Brook University Hospital in New York. "Any treatment that would enhance their ability to meet the mental challenges of their daily lives would be helpful."
 

Ropren
 

Solagran and its technology continues to get little if any press coverage, the company gets a steady stream of enquiries from around the world from the families of people suffering from neurodegenerative disorders– particularly Alzheimer’s disease. The
number of enquiries jumped following the release of the preliminary results of the Swinburne trials indicating a 15-20 percent improvement in memory and cognitive function in healthy elderly volunteers. The “three month personal supply rule” means that Solagran will be able to supply three month courses of Ropren to people in Australia, the USA and other countries upon application.

Present Day Data

The pool of potential memory drugs is widening. According to the analyst firm Datamonitor, there were more than 40 drugs in mid- or late- stage clinical trials and another 100 more in early stages of development at the beginning of 2005. The firm also reports that future successes may not even come from biopharm behemoths like Merck or Eli Lilly. Smaller companies like Solagran, Cortex, Neurochemand, and Axonyx are making the fastest inroads.

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