Alzheimer’s Worst Nightmare
By Rebeca Funes
For decades, Alzheimer’s has been known to be an incurable, neurodegenerative disease affecting people ages 60 and up. With it being the most common form of dementia, making up around 60% to 70% of cases worldwide, hundreds of thousands of dollars have gone into patient care and research for a cure. However, a recent breakthrough developed in Cuba may change everything we knew about approaching Alzheimer’s and diseases alike.
Formulated by Cuba’s Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM), NeuralCIM (also known as NeuralEPO) is an intranasal medication aimed to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Driven by her mom’s personal battle with Alzheimer’s, Dr. Teresita Rodriguez Obaya dedicated years to research in creating NeuralCIM.
What makes NeuralCIM different from other medications is the fact that it’s derived from erythropoietin (EPO), a protein that tells your bone marrow to produce red blood cells, with a low sialic acid. Unlike standard EPO administration that stimulates blood production, the low sialic acid removes this blood-boosting effect and mimics the brain’s naturally occurring EPO. This also prevents the dangers of incidentally increasing blood pressure and thickness.
With this modification of EPO, the medication can safely help protect and heal brain cells via interacting with astrocytes, the “support” cells in your brain. This not only inhibits cell death but reduces inflammation in the brain, and by doing so, this preserves brain cells and slows the progression of these diseases.
NeuralCIM has also been shown to encourage neuroplasticity and angiogenesis in the brain, angiogenesis being the formation of new capillaries that improves blood flow to damaged areas. This allows for the surviving neurons to form new synaptic connections to take over the roles of damaged ones, stimulate repair, help clear toxic metabolic waste in the brain that would otherwise worsen inflammation, and so much more.
“I believe that the current development of NeuralCIM shows very promising results and with further development and aid from other nations, has a significant chance at becoming the go-to treatment or even the cure for neurodegenerative diseases. However, the fact that this treatment was created in Cuba raises concerns regarding aid from foreign countries due to their lack of allies and connections to the rest of the world.” said senior Isaias Nieves.
In order to put their research to the test, the Center of Molecular Immunology conducted a clinical trial in 2023 in Havana, Cuba. This trial was randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled–meaning that both those who received the medication and those who administered it did not know who was receiving the placebo and who were receiving NeuralCIM.
The study consisted of 174 participants with Alzheimer’s, 170 of which were treated as the other four did not meet the final criteria to begin the study. The clinical trial was also conducted in two to three phases each having a 48 week period from September 2017 to September 2020.
The results showed that in participants who had mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease and took NeuralCIM, around 54% of them showed an improvement in cognitive abilities whilst another 30% of them stabilized after the 48 week period. The study also showed no adverse effects tied to NeuralCIM were experienced.
“Although the medicine is relatively new, I would travel to administer the medicine to a loved one if they had a neurodegenerative like Alzheimer’s. The medicine doesn’t seem to have any drawbacks, so I see no problem with it. I trust it.” said junior at Barbara Goleman, Ella Hermannsson.
As of late, a small but growing number of U.S. citizens are traveling to Cuba to receive NeuralCIM. With this, another clinical trial is being conducted in Canada, starting up last year. Although the previous study shows promising results, Cuba’s Center of Molecular Immunology does note that further testing is necessary to truly understand if NeuralCIM could be the cure for Alzheimer’s or neurodegenerative diseases as a whole.
