In the war on cancer and other diseases including COVID-19, old drugs approved for other conditions are being studied for new purposes. It’s a strategy that will now be tested in Alzheimer’s disease with a drug called rapamycin.
A $2 million grant will enable a clinical trial in which 40 individuals with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer’s disease will receive a daily dose of oral rapamycin (or for half the participants, a placebo) and undergo brain health assessments at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases, an institute of UT Health San Antonio.
The grant, announced Aug. 25, is from Part the Cloud, the Gates Foundation and the Alzheimer’s Association.