Autor/es reacciones

Leah Mursaleen

Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK

Developing drugs for diseases like Alzheimer’s is a costly process and can take many years. Being able to repurpose drugs already licensed for other health conditions could help accelerate progress and open up new avenues to prevent or treat dementia-causing diseases.

This research looked at medical records of nearly 270,000 men with erectile dysfunction, and found that those prescribed drugs known as PDE5Is - including common brand name Viagra - also appeared to have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

While this is an encouraging finding, it doesn’t yet confirm whether these drugs are directly responsible for reducing Alzheimer’s risk, nor whether they can slow or stop the disease.  Further research – including clinical trials - will be needed to confirm whether these drugs can indeed play a role in preventing or treating Alzheimer’s. Such studies should also uncover whether these drugs might have effects in other groups. such as women, and men without a diagnosis of erectile function. We also need to understand how this evidence might apply to more diverse populations.. The only way to do this is to keep up momentum in dementia research through continued investment.”

If you want to discuss any treatments you are taking, your first port of call is to speak to your doctor.

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