After many years of research and trials to combat Alzheimer’s disease, researchers believe that they may have found the drug that could reduce the risk of developing the disease, and it’s actually Viagra.
Viagra is most commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction but research by UCL, which examined medical records of 260,000 men with erectile dysfunction, found that men who were prescribed Viagra and similar medications were 18% less likely to develop the most common form of dementia years later than those who went without the drugs.
It’s an exciting development but there’s still some way to go
The research found that men who had been prescribed Viagra and similar medications were 18% less likely to develop the most common form of dementia years later than those that went without the drug.
Additionally, the effect was strongest in the men with the most prescriptions. Researchers found a 44% lower risk of Alzheimer’s in those who had received in 21 to 50 of prescriptions of the drug over the course of the study.
However, while this is of course very hopeful, scientists are keen to emphasise that there is still some way to go.
“We can’t say that the drugs are responsible, but this does give us food for thought on how we move into the future,” said the lead author Dr Ruth Brauer at University College London. “We now need a proper clinical trial to look at the effects of these drugs on Alzheimer’s in women as well as men.”
“This is a significant development, as repurposing existing drugs for the prevention of dementia is a promising strategy to stop dementia from developing in the first place,” said Dr Ivan Koychev, a senior clinical researcher at the University of Oxford, according to the Guardian.
We are looking forward to seeing how this unfolds as, currently, 900,000 people in the UK have Alzheimer’s Disease and this is expected to rise to 1.6 million people by 2040, according to Alzheimer’s Society.