Diabetes and ADHD Drugs to Be Tested on Alzheimer's Patients in UK
The AD-SMART trial will test several repurposed medicines at once, starting with a diabetes drug and an ADHD drug
By AXY Health Desk ·
Key points
- The AD-SMART trial in the UK is testing two repurposed drugs, one used for type 2 diabetes and one for ADHD, as possible treatments for Alzheimer's.
- Angela Bucksey, 67, from Cambridgeshire, was diagnosed in January and is the first person to begin treatment on the trial.
- The study uses a multi-arm, multi-stage platform design that compares several treatments with a placebo group and gives participants a higher likelihood of receiving an active treatment.
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham, whose father died from Alzheimer's last month, said he is proud to see the trial launched in the UK.
A clinical trial launched in the UK will test several existing medicines at once for Alzheimer's disease, starting with two drugs already used to treat type 2 diabetes and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study, called AD-SMART, is designed to see whether the drugs can ease memory and thinking problems and help people keep their quality of life. Angela Bucksey, 67, from Cambridgeshire, is the first person to begin treatment on the trial. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in January.
Scientists hope the design could cut years from the search for new treatments for the most common type of dementia. That hope rests on a simple idea: if several possible treatments are tested together, against a shared comparison group, the path from laboratory idea to answer may be shorter than it would be if each drug were studied in its own separate trial.
Angela Bucksey Is the First Patient
Angela Bucksey's family history meant the diagnosis was not entirely unexpected. Her mother had Alzheimer's, and so did her aunts. "My mother had it and my aunts, so it was a disappointment rather than a shock when I was diagnosed because I knew it would restrict my life."
That knowledge shaped how she approached the disease. She said joining the trial made her feel empowered, because "at least you are doing something". Her description of the choice was direct. "Instead of just sitting there, you're standing up and saying, I will fight back."
For many people, the months after a dementia diagnosis are spent adjusting to what the future may hold, making practical plans and deciding how much control they can keep. Bucksey's decision to enrol reflects a wish many patients share, to act rather than simply wait. Trials also depend on people being willing to take part in a study whose outcome is uncertain, and to accept that they may be given a placebo, which is a dummy treatment with no active medicine.
Why Alzheimer's Is So Hard to Treat
Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia, affecting around 600,000 people in the UK. Dementia is an umbrella term for a group of conditions that damage the brain over time and gradually erode memory, reasoning and the ability to manage daily life. Alzheimer's is one of the most widely known forms, but it is not the only one.
The disease is progressive, meaning symptoms usually worsen over time. Early signs often include forgetting recent conversations, names or appointments. Later stages can affect speech, judgement, mood and the ability to live independently. Families frequently end up providing a large share of the care, sometimes for many years, and that burden is one reason research on new treatments carries so much weight outside the clinic.
There is currently no cure for Alzheimer's. Some treatments can ease symptoms or slow the disease for some patients, but they do not reverse the damage already done to the brain. That gap explains why researchers keep searching for new options, including medicines that were developed for other conditions. Each new candidate has to be tested carefully, because a drug that works in one disease can fail in another.
Why Repurposed Drugs Could Speed Things Up
A repurposed drug is a medicine that is already approved and used for one condition but is tested for a different one. The two medicines in AD-SMART are used to treat type 2 diabetes and ADHD. Neither was originally designed to treat Alzheimer's.
The appeal of this approach is that much of the groundwork already exists. Researchers know how these medicines are dosed, how they behave in the body and what side effects they commonly cause. That information can make it possible to move faster from early laboratory work to testing in people, which is why scientists hope the method could cut years from the search for treatments.
Speed matters most to people already living with the disease. A treatment that takes a decade to reach patients may arrive too late for many of them. Still, safety information does not prove that a drug works for a new condition. The trial has to show that these medicines help people with Alzheimer's, and that a benefit can be measured in how they think, remember and live.
How AD-SMART's Multi-Arm Design Works
AD-SMART is what researchers describe as a multi-arm, multi-stage platform trial. In plain terms, several treatments are tested at the same time inside one study. Each treatment forms an arm of the trial. Participants in each arm are compared with a single group taking a placebo, so every treatment is judged against the same baseline.
This design has a practical benefit for volunteers. Because several treatments run together, people taking part have a higher likelihood of receiving an active treatment than they would in a traditional trial that tests one drug against a placebo. For someone who has agreed to join a study with no guarantee of benefit, that difference matters.
The approach also makes comparison easier. When several options share one control group, researchers can see more clearly which ones appear to do something useful. Platform trials are also built to change as results arrive, so a treatment that shows no benefit can be dropped and a new one can be added. That flexibility is one reason researchers like the format, but it needs careful planning so that the comparisons stay fair from start to finish.
Burnham's Personal Stake in the Trial
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has a personal link to the disease. He said his father died from Alzheimer's last month. He said he knew how it felt to lose a loved one to dementia, and that he had seen first-hand the devastating impact the disease has on families.
He publicly backed the study. "That's why I'm proud to see this trial being launched in the UK, so that cutting-edge treatments can reach patients here as soon as possible," he said.
Government backing does not change the science, and it does not guarantee that either medicine will work. It can, however, affect how quickly a study moves from planning to recruiting people. For patients and families, a visible commitment from the top of government signals that dementia research is meant to be a priority, not a footnote.
What Success Would Look Like for Patients
The central question for AD-SMART is whether either medicine produces a measurable benefit compared with the placebo group. The study is looking at memory and thinking problems, along with quality of life. Success would need to show up in how patients feel and function from day to day, not only in laboratory readings.
If one or both drugs help, the finding would matter to people with Alzheimer's and their families. It could mean a new option that doctors can consider sooner, because the medicines are already known to the health system. If neither drug helps, the trial would still add to the evidence about what does not work. That information can steer later research away from dead ends and save time for other teams.
For now, the trial has started and the first patient is in treatment. Bucksey is one of the people whose experience the researchers will follow in the months ahead. Her decision shows what many patients are looking for: a chance to take part in finding answers, rather than only adjusting to a diagnosis that changes their lives.
Questions and answers
What is the AD-SMART trial?
AD-SMART is a clinical trial launched in the UK that tests several treatments for Alzheimer's disease at the same time. It starts with two repurposed medicines, one used for type 2 diabetes and one for ADHD, and will examine whether they can ease memory and thinking problems.
Why are diabetes and ADHD drugs being tested for Alzheimer's?
Both medicines are already approved and used to treat other conditions, so information about how they are dosed and what side effects they cause already exists. Scientists hope this could speed up the search for new Alzheimer's treatments and cut years from the process.
Who is the first patient in the AD-SMART trial?
Angela Bucksey, 67, from Cambridgeshire, is the first person to begin treatment on the trial. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in January.
What happens next in the AD-SMART trial?
The next step is to see whether either drug shows a measurable benefit compared with the placebo group for memory, thinking and quality of life. Results would show whether either medicine is worth offering more widely.
Topics: Alzheimer's disease, AD-SMART trial, Angela Bucksey, Andy Burnham, Cambridgeshire, dementia research, repurposed drugs, UK clinical trials
Sources: BBC Health
https://axynewsglobal.com/article/diabetes-and-adhd-drugs-to-be-tested-on-alzheimer-s-patients-in-uk