Viagra Active May Reduce Alzheimer’s Development, Study Says

Sildenafil, a substance that makes up Viagra, can reduce the development of Alzheimer’s by up to 69% when compared to other drugs, said an American study published on Monday (6) in the journal Nature Aging.

Conducted by a team of researchers at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States, the study involved the initial analysis of 1,608 FDA-approved (Food and Drug Agency) medicines with information from approximately 7 million American patients.

Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease and is recognized as the most prevalent type of dementia worldwide. According to study data, the disease is expected to affect 16 million Americans by 2050.

In Brazil, there is an average prevalence of 1 million people suffering from dementia. There is still no treatment to cure this clinical condition.

In the investigation, researchers studied some genetic and biological aspects that could be associated with Alzheimer’s, such as the proliferation of beta amyloid and tau proteins that are associated with the development of the disease.

So, scientists followed for six years the effects of sildenafil in three groups of users. The first was formed by those who used the substance against those who didn’t. The second group was composed of patients who took sildenafil compared to people who used other drugs that had no evidence against Alzheimer’s. And, finally, there was the group of subjects who used sildenafil against others who used drugs without evidence to fight the disease.

From there, the researchers came to calculations that showed the superior effectiveness of 69% of sildenafil in stopping the development of Alzheimer’s.

The researchers understood that the substance had this encouraging result because it acts concomitantly against the beta amyloid and tau proteins instead of acting only on one of them. “Our study tested the hypothesis that dual acting on the beta amyloid and tau pathways by sildenafil may provide better clinical benefits compared to targeting [isolada das proteínas”, afirmou Feixiong Cheng, líder do estudo e membro do Instituto de Medicina Genética da Cleveland Clinic.

Mesmo com os resultados importantes, Cheng chama a atenção de que ainda é necessário realizar novos testes clínicos para atingir um maior grau de confiança do sildenafil contra o Alzheimer.

“Estamos planejando ativamente um ensaio clínico de fase dois (RCT) agora e o cronograma depende de muitos fatores, como recrutamento de pacientes e apoio financeiro também. Se tivermos apoio financeiro suficiente para nossos próximos ensaios, podemos ter resultados preliminares entre 1 a 3 anos”, afirmou.

O cientista também vê a possibilidade de, no futuro, mesclar o sildenafil com outras drogas no combate à doença. “Estamos testando ativamente as terapias de combinação de medicamentos; ainda, não temos os resultados [dessa combinação com algumas drogas]”concludes Cheng.