Erectile dysfunction and diabetes drugs to be tested as dementia treatments

The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and the Alzheimer's Society UK announced new funding to explore the possibility of using a commonly prescribed drug which treats erectile dysfunction as the next treatment for dementia.

Tadalafil, marketed by Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) as Cialis – part of the same class of drugs as Pfizer’s Viagra (sildenafil) – is to be one of the major research programs funded by the two charities in a cross-Atlantic research partnership. This is the first ever study researching the use of an erectile dysfunction drug for vascular dementia.

The announcement comes on the one-year anniversary of the first G8 summit on dementia. The event saw global leaders call for increased investment and global collaboration in dementia research in order to find a disease-modifying treatment by 2025. Nearly $500,000 will go to a team of scientists led by Atticus Hainsworth of St George's University of London, UK, to research whether tadalafil, which works by dilating blood vessels, could help prevent vascular dementia by increasing blood flow to the brain.