Small early trial shows brain stimulation may slow Alzheimer symptoms, NBC says

A report presented Thursday at the Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease meeting in Madrid stated that researchers found that when a transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, device was aimed at the right spot in the brain, it could slow the development of Alzheimer’s Disease symptoms, such as memory loss, compared to an inactive treatment, Linda Carroll and Mustafa Fattah report for NBC News. The new study, a phase 2 clinical trial, included 32 volunteers with Alzheimer’s disease, aged 56 to 88 at the start of the study, who were followed for 52 weeks, the report noted. Dr. Giacomo Koch, a professor of human physiology at the University of Ferrara and one of the co-founders of Sinaptica, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company currently developing the therapy, is currently planning a phase 3 trial, which would be needed for Food and Drug Administration approval.