PLT Test Blog

The Gladstone Center for Translational Advancement was formed in 2017, and focuses on  drug repositioning ; repurposing already-approved drugs for new uses and clinical trials, to speed up (and lower the cost of) drug development.   Our neurologist reader Eszter commented recently on the overlap between experimental therapies for Alzheimer’s and those for autism. She was mentioning GHK-Cu, which is a naturally occurring peptide in our bodies that looks interesting in the research on both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.   There will be post on GHK-Cu, but this is a potential therapy that would require injections, so it has a big drawback In the early days of this blog we looked at the repurposing of Alzheimer’s drugs like Memantine, Donepezil and Galantamine for some autism. Roll forward a few years and we now have quite a handful of autism drugs in the portfolio. Today we look again at how some of these autism drugs can be repurposed for Alzheimer’s. We have come full c...

  Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) Tours, France, Gateway to the Loire Valley and Home to iBrain Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/user:Tango7174   We do seem to be going round in circles in this blog.   One doctor reader contacted me recently to tell me about Pentoxifylline for cognitive improvement. I told him that I am not surprised and that in the world of autism Pentoxifylline has been known to be beneficial for half a century.   The abstract below is from a Japanese paper in 1978   On our experience in using pentoxifylline for abnormal behavior and the autistic syndrome Abstract Describes the successful use of pentoxifylline (150–600 mg/day) with 3–15 yr old children with abnormal behavior (e.g., self-mutilation, aggressiveness, and hyperkinesis) and with autism. It is noted that while the drug was effective in reducing symptoms of autism, developmental factors in the disorder should not be ignored.   You might wonder why it has not been...