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A blood product normally used to treat immune disorders and a type of leukemia may also slow or stop mental decline in people with Alzheimer’s disease, researchers reported yesterday at an Alzheimer’s conference in Madrid. The product is called IVIg (pronounced EYE-vig), for intravenous immunoglobulin, also known as gamma globulin. Made from pooled blood plasma, it is a thick soup of antibodies, the proteins made by the immune system to get rid of unwanted substances. It has been used for 30 years for other diseases and is dripped into a vein like a transfusion. But the findings in Alzheimer’s are...

In Preliminary Study, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Team Finds IVIg Therapy May Improve Cognitive Function in Alzheimer's Patients (This original title is too long for FR.) Delivered Antibodies Bind to Disease-Causing Amyloid Proteins NEW YORK (April 11, 2005) — In what could prove to be an important development in the search for a treatment of Alzheimer's disease, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center physician-scientists say the results of an initial (Phase I) clinical study provide encouraging evidence that antibodies derived from human plasma can capture the beta-amyloid protein in blood and exert positive effects on patients' thinking abilities. Beta-amyloid is a central component...