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Drugs May Fight Mad Cow Disease

By Henry J. Fishman, M.D.
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 25, 2006

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Drugs used to treat malaria and schizophrenia may have a role in treating brain-wasting disorders like mad cow disease.

The FDA recently gave the OK to researchers at the University of California in San Francisco to study quinacrine, a malaria drug, and a drug used to treat schizophrenia called chlorpromazine.

Three dozen patients, all very ill with the brain-wasting disease called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, more commonly known as mad cow disease, will receive the medication.

We can't currently do much for diseases like mad cow. Abnormally shapred proteins called prions, rather than a germ, invade and damage the brain and can eventually kill you. But these two drugs have shown some promise.

The drugs help mouse cells contain prions and have already been given to two sick women. One showed significant improvement.

The two drugs require extensive research, and a lot more time, before we know if they work. Still, they may someday be used to treat mad cow and other brain-wasting diseases.

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