Doubts about Targretin in AD

Four independent academic teams have called into question^1-4 some conclusions from a 2012 paper by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers that suggested the cancer drug Targretin bexarotene could be useful for treating Alzheimer's disease.⁵ The new studies failed to replicate some aspects of the original work, but the main conclusions-that Targretin reduces levels of soluble b-amyloid and improves cognitive function in mice-appear to stand.

A clearer picture should emerge in early 2014, when researchers from the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health are expected to report findings from a Phase II trial of bexarotene to treat AD...