Could a common blood pressure drug slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s?

A ground-breaking trial that hopes to discover if a drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure could slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) will begin shortly.

The multi-centre clinical trial, hosted by North Bristol NHS Trust and led by a group of academics from the University of Bristol, University of Cambridge and Queen's University Belfast, will find out if losartan, a well-tolerated drug for high blood pressure, can complement current treatments for AD.

The researchers believe the drug could slow down the progression of AD by improving brain blood flow and altering chemical pathways that cause brain cell damage, brain shrinkage and memory problems in AD.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the cause of more than half of the cases of dementia that affects approximately 800,000 people in the UK. It profoundly affects memory and brain function in older individuals. It is a slow progressive disease that can last for a number of years and is heart-breaking, exhausting and often a costly reality for family and health services.

Thanks to funding of nearly £2 million by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and managed by the National Institute for Health Research, the double blinded placebo-controlled randomised trial, known as RADAR (Reducing pathology in Alzheimer's Disease through Angiotensin taRgeting), will recruit approximately 230 participants from a number of sites across the UK over two years.

The study will use brain imaging at CRICBristol and other locations around the country to measure if losartan helps to reduce brain shrinkage that researchers know is strongly linked with reduced memory function whilst also measuring if the drug can help improve people's memory and quality of life.