According to an early-phase clinical trial by investigators at Stanford University School of Medicine in California in the United States, a regular infusion of blood plasma from a young person could turn out to be a new treatment option for sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease. The research team was headed by principal investigator Sharon Shaw, a Stanford neurology and neurological sciences clinical associate professor.
The trial itself was relatively small, with about 18 people, and the safety results were in line with expectations. But the surprising part was that the patients who were given blood plasma infusions over the course of the trial showed improvements in tests of functional ability.
Even though the trial was not designed to assess any potential benefits in terms of symptoms, and was rather a test for safety of the infusions, the results do warrant further investigation. That’s the opinion of Alzheimer’s Research UK research director Carol Routledge, who also said:
“Blood-plasma infusions have been in widespread use for medical purposes for a number of years, so while it is not surprising that they were found to be safe in this research, it is good news that this interesting approach can now be investigated in larger trials.”
The donors of the blood plasma were in the age group of 18 to 30, and the transfusions were given four times over a four-week period. The trial, called PLASMA, short for Plasma for Alzheimer’s Symptom Amelioration, was intended to assess the safety, feasibility and tolerability of plasma infusions into patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
It’s a long, long way before more trials are conducted and an approved therapy comes out of this initial trial, but the obvious advantage is that this is not a new process.
The trial was carried out at Stanford Hospital, and was sponsored by a San Carlos-based biotech company called Alkahest, which primarily focuses on therapies derived from the use of blood and its components. Alhahest also owns intellectual property associated with the treatment regimen used for the trial.
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