China has approved a home-grown drug to cure Alzheimer’s, the first in two decades. The state-run China Daily reported that country’s National Medical Products Administration has approved the market launch of the drug, GV-971.
According to Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceutical, one of the drug’s developers, patients will be able to buy the drug around China from 29th of December. The drug is the only Alzheimer’s medicine out of more than 320 developed by pharmaceutical companies around the globe to survive clinical trials. Extracted from brown algae, the orally taken drug is the world’s first multi-targeting and carbohydrate-based drug for Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s disease, an irreversible and progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory, thinking ability and the capability to carry out simple tasks, affects at least 50 million people worldwide, and the number is expected to increase as populations age. China has roughly 10 million people with Alzheimer’s, the highest in the world.
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