Nymox welcomes AD benefit data for statins

US drugmaker Nymox has welcomed data presented at the 10th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in Madrid, Spain, suggesting that statins significantly protect against cognitive decline in the elderly. The firm has the sole patent rights for the use of these drugs in this indication.

In one study, researchers from the Indiana University Center for Aging Research and the Indiana University School of Medicine measured the rate of cognitive decline in 1,149 elderly non-demented African Americans over the age of 70 over a three-year period and found that the average rate of decline for statin drug users was over 70% less than non-users (0.12 versus 0.46).

In a second study, also presented at the ICAD, 1,532 elderly women were evaluated by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Gothenburg University. They found that there was an increased risk of dementia associated with higher cholesterol levels 10 or more years before the onset of disease.