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Well-known drug could potentially help prevent Alzheimer’s, study finds

By Cleveland Clinic Mahoning Matters
For the last three years, Cleveland Clinic researchers have been studying the possibility of re-purposing a well-known drug called Sildenafil for Alzheimer’s disease.
For the last three years, Cleveland Clinic researchers have been studying the possibility of re-purposing a well-known drug called Sildenafil for Alzheimer’s disease.

For the last three years, Cleveland Clinic researchers have been studying the possibility of re-purposing a well-known drug called Sildenafil for Alzheimer’s disease.

Now, there’s more data to show that it could be effective.

What is Sildenafil?

Sildenafil is normally used to treat individuals with erectile dysfunction or high blood pressure.

However, researchers have discovered that the drug could also be beneficial when it comes to preventing and possibly treating Alzheimer’s.

According to Feixiong Cheng, PhD, who led the research, they looked at computational models, insurance claims data and brain cells in Alzheimer’s patients.

Based on what they found, sildenafil appears to lower levels of certainproteins in the brain, which are linked to Alzheimer’s.

Results also indicate boosted cell growth, brain function and reduced inflammation.

Cheng said repurposing a drug that’s already on the market is much more affordable than creating anew one.Plus, it could be made available to the public a lot sooner.

“I think the next step is we’ll work together with our colleagues and physicians here to try and conduct a randomized clinical trial and really prove this drug may have both prevention and even intervention effectsin our Cleveland Clinic patients as well,” said Dr. Cheng.

Dr. Cheng said it’s important to emphasize that while early research has been hopeful, people should not use this drug for Alzheimer’s prevention purposes.

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