Could Electromagnetic Treatment Reverse Memory Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients?

A medical device which provides transcranial electromagnetic treatment (TEMT) to the brain, is being investigated in a new clinical trial involving patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The device – known as the NeuroEM 1000 – was developed by medical device company, NeuroEM Therapeutics.

The Phase I clinical trial will be conducted over a 2-month period by researchers at Banner Sun Health Research Institute and Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, both in Phoenix, Arizona. Preclinical data on the NeuroEM 1000 medical device showed that the technology was able to prevent – and even reverse – memory loss in mice models of Alzheimer’s disease.

“We are very pleased to have two of the country’s most notable and trusted Alzheimer’s research institutes performing this first-of-its-kind clinical trial,” said Dr. Gary Arendash, President and CEO of NeuroEM Therapeutics. “Although the Phase I trial is primarily to investigate safety of the TEMT head device, a number of measures have been included in the trial’s design that could provide evidence of therapeutic efficacy.”

According to NeuroEM Therapeutics, the TEMT is thought to disrupt the amyloid protein aggregates in the brain which are associated with Alzheimer’s pathology. The technology also stimulates mitochondrial functioning to increase energy production in brain cells damaged by Alzheimer’s.

Patients enrolled in the clinical trial of the NeuroEM 1000 device will receive TEMT treatments administered by their caregiver. As the medical device only needs to be worn twice per day for one-hour treatments, Alzheimer’s patients participating in the study do not need to travel to a clinical trial site in order to complete their therapy.

Drug development in the Alzheimer’s space has been slow and fraught with clinical failures. NeuroEM Therapeutics believes that neuromodulatory disease interventions could be more successful in treating the neurodegenerative disorder.

The TEMT technology was developed by Arendash and his colleagues at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. The study coordinators expect that the results of the Phase I Alzheimer’s clinical trial will be released in Spring 2018.