I was thinking about that the other day -- it's an anti-inflammatory drug that seems to work immediately on many patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Why? Appa

I was thinking about that the other day -- it's an anti-inflammatory drug that seems to work immediately on many patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Why? Apparently it's difficult to tell the difference between Alzheimer's and vascular dementia while the patient is still alive -- examining a sample of brain tissue is the definitive test. I think I heard that the misdiagnosis rate is something like 50% (unreliable number, don't take my word for it). It doesn't make much sense for an anti-inflammatory drug to clear the protein plaques or undo neurological damage in the case of Alzheimer's disease, but it does make sense for the drug to improve blood flow to the brain for patients who actually have vascular dementia instead. So, perhaps there was a mix of patients in the (small) initial trials we've seen for etanercept as an Alzheimer's treatment that accounts for the surprising result.