Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[falconer66a]

Aricept is downstream, doesn't fix things.

...wouldn't you consider Aricept a preexisting "upstream treatment"?

Aricept is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Acetylcholinesterase is an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in muscle control and other nerve impulses.

Consequently, it's "downstream" in the Alzheimer's disease process. Something causes or allows acetylcholinesterase to accumulate or activate, which thereby then disrupts normal nerve impulses. Inhibit acetylcholinesterase and nerve impulses won't be so prominently disrupted. This is the mechanism by which Aricept works its rather modest wonders for patients with Alzheimer's. As clinical tests have shown, the drug, at least for a time, slows the progression of Alzheimer's. Merely slows them, but only for a while. Eventually, the disease reverts to its lethal progression. A moderate, short term therapy only.

In contrast to blarcamesine, which is, indeed, upstream to the root cause(s) of Alzheimer's. Before they happen it fixes the root pathologies that cause disrupted nerve impulse transmissions.