Cooling down AD

A team from The Johns Hopkins University has clinical proof of concept for an unconventional approach to slowing the progression of Alzheimer's disease-reducing activity in the hippocampus with antiepileptic drugs.¹ Based on the findings, AgeneBio Inc. has licensed patent applications from the university on lowering brain activity with antiepileptic drugs to prevent AD.

The standard view of AD etiology holds that the disease results from neuronal loss in the hippocampus caused by aggregated b-amyloid (Ab). The hippocampus normally facilitates memory formation and recall, but the brain region degenerates early during AD, causing lapses in short-term memory...