World's first clinical Alzheimer trial

A world-first clinical trial for preventing and delaying Alzheimer's disease will be conducted in Western Australia (WA), the state's Health Minister Kim Hames announced on Tuesday. Hames said the study, which would require 400 men older than 60, would investigate the effects of a combined treatment of testosterone and a fish oil component on people who had memory problems, which indicated a risk of the disease. Internationally-renowned, WA-based expert Professor Ralph Martins from McCusker Alzheimer's Research Foundation will lead the study. The Minister said the WA Government had committed 500,000 AU dollars (527,470 U.S. dollars) to support the new trial. He said anecdotal evidence already suggested that both testosterone and the fish-oil component were beneficial in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease but a clinical trial investigating both substances together had never been done. Martins told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) that the new treatment was aimed at early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. He said participants for the 14-month trial would be asked to call the research center every 10 to 12 weeks for an injection. Australian researchers are hoping to use the new treatment to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. "It is not going to be a magic bullet, but if we can reduce it by 10 or 15 percent that would be excellent," Martins said.