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On Saturday (November 2), Chinese regulators approved a drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease—the first new treatment to enter the global market in 17 years. Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceuticals’s oligomannate boosted cognitive function among clinical trial participants who had mild to moderate Alzheimer’s as early as a month after taking the drug, compared with those who took a placebo.
Although investigators have yet to show how the drug works in people, scientists at the company reported in September that oligomannate, a mix of oligosaccharides derived from seaweed, adjusts the microbiome in mice such that inflammation-causing amino acids from gut bacteria no longer irritate the brain.
“These results advance our understanding of the mechanisms that play a role in Alzheimer’s disease and imply that the gut microbiome is a valid target for the development of therapies,” neurologist Philip Scheltens, who advises Green Valley and heads the Alzheimer Center ...
