CLEVELAND — More than 200,000 Ohioans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, but Cleveland Clinic researchers may have discovered a way to reduce that number by repurposing an already approved FDA drug.
When someone you love is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, it feels like a race against the clock. For John Domeck, he was diagnosed in 2019 when he was 57 years old and classified as early onset.
“It's overwhelming, and it's all you can think about, and you just you feel like screaming because there's nothing you can do,” said John's wife, Ann Domeck.
At the time, Ann says there were no treatment options, but then in 2020, they got a call from the Cleveland Clinic about a clinical trial.
“The clinic approached us and said, you guys are perfect. Me being the caregiver and John being the patient for a clinical trial that we're working on, it's called Lecanemab,” said Ann.
In the past five years, the FDA has approved three different Alzheimer's drugs, including Lecanemab, which John is taking. Meanwhile, at the Cleveland Clinic, they're studying another option — Sildenafil, better known as Viagra. Three years ago, Dr. Cheng Feixiong first posted his findings.
“We wanted to further validate our findings using two independent larger patient databases,” said Feixiong.
In their most recent work, researchers confirmed it, seeing a 30 to 54% decrease in symptoms of Alzheimer's in patients who took Sildenafil.
“Our study also further shows that beyond this kind of blood flow or anti-inflammatory, Viagra may also reduce the neurotoxic tau protein, which is a key Alzheimer’s causal protein people believe in right now,” said Feixiong.
But their next battle is finding what patients the drug is most effective in.
"So one challenge right now is why we see huge failures for Alzheimer’s disease when we believe the drug should have an effect, but we tested the drug in the wrong populations, in the wrong cohorts for Alzheimer’s patients. This is something we still need to get it down,” said Feixiong.
With lots of work ahead, Feixiong believes the future holds more treatment options for families like the Domecks.
With John four years into his treatment, the former lawyer still drives, golfs and plays trivia.
“It’s been six, seven years since we noticed the symptoms. It's been five years since the diagnosis and his scores should have gone down, but it hasn’t,” said Ann.
Though the journey had its moments, from months of tests, treatments, and doctors’ visits, John and Ann are happy they took that risk.
“There is hope. When I was diagnosed, there wasn't really any hope,” said John.
For once, they feel like time is on their side.
“I’m thankful, very blessed that we're at least here for the beginning of it. It’s not a cure. We totally know that. None of these drugs are cures, they're saying, but it's given us a lot of time,” Ann continued, “We are blessed to get in with this and to be here at this time. God never makes a mistake with his timing, and he certainly didn't with John.”
For more information on the Viagra study, click here.
