Does Martek Hold A Key To Treating Alzheimer's Disease? (MATK)

Everyone knows about the current and future epidemic of Alzheimer’s Disease.  This disease is largely untreated and most current treatments gear around early diagnosis, slowing the onset, or prolonging the early stages from becoming late-stage Alzheimer’s.  Martek Biosciences Corp. (NASDAQ: MATK) has made an announcement this morning about its DHA from microalgae being a possible component in combating Alzheimer’s.  The problem is that this was published in December and this looks very preliminary from a mice study.

• Barron’s had covered this last year with an article outlining the drug developments from Big Pharma and we ourselves have noted what this may end up doing to the nursing home operations in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In a recent pre-clinical study published in the December 26 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, an omega-3 fatty acid found in algae called docosahexaenoic acid (or DHA), was found to decrease an important risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles using a mouse model, a diabetic rat model, and cultured human cells, the study found that DHA increases the production of LR11.  This LR11 protein is supposed to be vital in clearing the brain of the enzymes that make the beta amyloid plaques that are thought to be a key cause of Alzheimer’s disease. The investigators used Martek’s DHA from microalgae for a portion of the research.

Martek also noted that the National Institutes of Health is also funding a multi-million dollar clinical study on the effects of vegetarian DHA from microalgae in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.  Those results for now will not be available until 2010.  If Martek’s DHA is going to be a key component in treating this, it will likely be one of many different steps and many simultaneous treatments.  Unfortunately this Alzheimer’s epidemic is going to be with us for quite some time.

Jon C. Ogg
January 23, 2008