For the work I do in lab (testing anti-inflammatory drugs in <i>in vitro</i> neural models) I did some research into etanercept when the first paper was published.<p>Etanercept works roughly by cleaning up that TNF-alpha which is plaqued around in Alzheimer's. It was FDA approved as an arthritis drug which (and I don't fully understand this part) allows doctors to attempt novel treatments using it without much further FDA approval.<p>Etanercept really does appear to cure the symptoms of Alzheimer's, <i>quickly</i>. The real issues are long-term effects for this sort of treatment and whether cleaning up the TNF-alpha actually does anything for fixing the causes of Alzheimer's.
Look at this MRI of a Alzheimer's patient before onset (right), and after onset (left).<p><a href="http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/neuroslides/slides/slide193.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/neuroslides/slides/slide193.jp...</a><p>It looks like there is PHYSICAL damage done to the brain-- there is actualy missing brain matter; as you can see, the sinuses have enlarged in size.<p>How can this injection reverse that? I call false until they publish something.
For some reason the first image that came to mind when reading this was the "experimental" treatments in the last Resident Evil (where the old guy seems fine after receiving some shot and is able to operate the camera, only to go crazy a couple of minutes later and kill the two doctors).<p>I wouldn't have expected the cure for Alzheimer's to be something that is effective within minutes.