Alzheimer's Disease
More than 5 million people in the US and 27 million worldwide suffer from Alzheimer's disease.The seventh leading cause of death in the US, Alzheimer's is a debilitating, and over time, fatal disease which destroys brain cells and causes severe memory loss and behavioral and cognitive problems. Alzheimer's also accounts for more than 50 percent of dementia cases.
While there is currently no cure for Alzheimer's, drug therapies are commonly used to slow down the progression of the disease. Alternative therapies such as dietary supplements are also common, although there is debate about the effectiveness and safety of all current treatments. The most commonly used class of drugs are acetylcholine esterase inhibitors; however, they produce a host of debilitating peripheral effects necessitating sub therapeutic dose administration and therefore reduced efficacy. Our approach is designed to overcome this limitation by using a novel implantable drug delivery system.