The Cognitive Impairment Unit of the Neurology Service at the Hospital Donostia is taking part in an international clinical trial on Alzheimer’s disease, together with 17 other Spanish hospitals and several dozen more European and North American centres. Trials with a new drug, a monoclonal antibody (from a single stem cell) that directly attacks the amyloid (a substance basically made up of a protein) depositions that cause the illness, will start this current month of June.

The research team from Hospital Donostia, composed of neurologists, neuropsychologists, neuroradiologists and biologists, with the researcher Adolfo López de Munain as its leader, will be in charge of monitoring the correct application of the treatment and studying the possible appearance of potential complications for the next two years.

The trial seeks to prove that the monoclonal antibody to be administered to patients «cleans» plaques of amyloid protein which have been deposited in the brain and interfere with the neuronal function, which in turn causes the cognitive impairment typical of Alzheimer’s disease.

Although the new drug has already been tested on a small scale in other studies, the aim now is to conduct the international trial that determines its effectiveness and safety as an initial step to its approval for generalised use in patients with Alzheimer’s.