New Drugs Offer Hope for Alzheimer's Patients

When you ask Howard Ulene to sum up what it's like to live with Alzheimer's disease there's no hesitation. Howard Ulene, Alzheimer's disease patient, drug trial participant: "In one word, forgetfulness and in many words forgetfulness." Once a savvy businessman, Howard Ulene is now using his entrepreneurial spirit to battle the disease. Howard Ulene, Alzheimer's disease patient, drug trial participant: "What you have to do is get over the fear and be very maudlin and poignant about it and then say I’m going to beat you SOB because I simply won’t except this limited life." About two years ago Howard joined a clinical drug trial for Alzheimer's disease. The drug he received, now known as Flurizan, has just entered phase three of the drug trial. Sam Gandy, M.D., Alzheimer's Association: "Making it to phase three is really unprecedented and these are medicines the likes of which we've never seen before. I think the chances of hitting something successful in the next five years are very good." There are nine new Alzheimer's treatments in phase three trials-the final step before FDA approval. All offering hope to either slow down or prevent the onset of Alzheimer's. Sam Gandy, M.D., Alzheimer's Association: "There are several steps leading from the beginning of the disease to what we see clinically, and what we hope to do is aim a different bullet, aim a different medicine at each of those steps." For Howard, the improvement from taking Flurizan has been tremendous. Art Ulene, M.D., brother: "His results in this clinical trial have been absolutely stunning. I got my brother back. I got the guy I knew as my brother back, he’s not perfect, but the old Howard is back and now able to communicate." As with any phase three trial, the results aren't final until the study ends and data are analyzed. I'm Mary Norton reporting.