Simple molecule shows remarkable Alzheimer's reversal in rats ScienceDaily

[CentralMass]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/11/251118220052.htm
"A low-cost, copper-targeting molecule from Brazil may offer a powerful new way to combat Alzheimer’s.
Date:
November 19, 2025
Source:
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Summary:
Scientists have developed a new molecule that breaks down beta-amyloid plaques by binding to excess copper in the brain. The treatment restored memory and reduced inflammation in rats, while also proving non-toxic and able to cross the blood–brain barrier. Because it’s far simpler and potentially cheaper than existing drugs, researchers are now pursuing partnerships to begin human trials."

..More at the link

[MadameButterfly]

1. Exciting news. Let democracy flourish

in Brazil to facilitate further research and sharing this amazing breakthrough with the world.

[DFW]

2. It's a different world down there.

Different rules, different everything. One of my outfit’s department heads is a native of Brazil, and he sort of tourist-guided my wife and me when we were down there in September, even though we were there for work.

One thing he turned me onto years ago is a Brazilian medication called “Tandrilax.” I was having some horrible back pain while we were at some meeting in London several years back. He noticed my discomfort and asked what was wrong. I told him, and he pulled out a small strip of pink pills and told me to take one before going to bed. I said I would try anything at that point. So I took his Brazilian pink pill, and the next morning, not only was my back pain gone, but it didn’t come back, either! I couldn’t believe it. These pills cost under a dollar each, and yet just one of them works better than a battery of medications and massages. I had no idea what was in them. I was speculating. Fermented piranha juice, forbidden Andean herbs, no idea. But I later showed the box to a pharmacist in Germany, who recognized all the ingredients as perfectly legit—he just hadn’t seen them all together in that ratio before, and not all in one pill.

I looked to see where I could buy them in Europe. Nowhere. So I looked in the USA. Also nowhere. They are apparently not sold or offered outside of Brazil. I can understand why. The worldwide Pharma industry must sell hundreds of millions a year in back pain medication, and I’m sure they keep the dosage low enough that you have to buy a lot of it before it starts to help. Their bottom line would suffer greatly if patients could get medication that was far more effective, and cost under $1. My wife and I bought 100 of the pills while we were there, since our travel plans do not include spontaneous, casual weekend jaunts to Brazil for refills. They supposedly require a prescription, but my colleague reminded me: Brazilian rules in Brazil. I went into a pharmacy, asked in my broken Portuguese if they had Tandrilax. Obviously, I was a foreigner, but the woman at the counter went to fetch a guy in a white coat, who made up some pseudo-prescription on the spot, signed it in the universal doctor’s script of Illegibilese, and everyone was happy (especially yours truly!!).

[3catwoman3]

3. "Illegibilese."

[DFW]

6. I've heard

Not confirmed, but supposedly some states will deny certification to practice medicine without proof of proficiency in Illegibilese.

[3catwoman3]

8. One of my physician colleagues in the pediatric practice...

…from which I retired had the first and last initials of RM. There was nothing in his signature that bore any resemblance at all to either of those letters.

[DFW]

9. When I get prescriptions

The usual assumption is that my physician is a holdover from the Sumerians, and that he always signs his name in his native cuneiform.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Bookmarking for Tandrilax. I have my own back problems, just not that bad yet. Interesting info from drugs.com:

Tandrilax (International)

Tandrilax may be available in the countries listed below.
Ingredient matches for Tandrilax
Caffeine

Caffeine is reported as an ingredient of Tandrilax in the following countries:

Brazil

Carisoprodol

Carisoprodol is reported as an ingredient of Tandrilax in the following countries:

Brazil

Diclofenac {active ingredient in Voltaren}

Diclofenac sodium (a derivative of Diclofenac) is reported as an ingredient of Tandrilax in the following countries:

Brazil

Acetaminophen {Tylenol}

Paracetamol is reported as an ingredient of Tandrilax in the following countries:

Brazil

Apparently, the magic ingredient is carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant useful in the short term but discouraged for prolonged use. Be sure to check the interaction warnings ! Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carisoprodol

[DFW]

7. Maybe that is why no other countries sell it

Over the years, when my volleahue has brought them back from Brazil, we have given the odd pill to friends and relatives, and if it were available here in Germany for ten times the price, other medications would have no chance

[MadameButterfly]

12. Fascinating story

I was just hoping Brazil wouldn't revert to Bolsinaro types who would follow Trump's lead and cancel medical research.

But now I'm very curious what is in those pink pills. i had the experience of having my back pain recur when I was living in Czeckoslovakia, and a doctor there gave me a medicine that knocked out my pain without side effects. I was never able to get something that effective in the US. It never occured to me to save a record that might have identified what was in those pills, but I was guessing some narcotic that has been banned in the US. I wonder if the Brazilian approach is more herbal given their resources.

As for back pain, if that is still an issue, try John Sarno's book Healing Back Pain. That's what solved my back pain permanently. He has more recent books that I am told are better. I was in NYC when I read it, so I was able to see him while he was still alive. Most people are helped by just reading the book but there are doctors carrying on his work at NYU Medical Center.

Sarno was on the Rosie ODonnell show after her producer was successfully treated by him. Rosie had queried her viewing audience for suggestions when her producer was in pain and nothing helped. She got hundreds of recommendations for Dr. Sarno. He was also on 20/20 with John Stossel.

[DFW]

13. See what Eppur_se_muova found about carisoprodol

Apparently, that is the secret ingredient in Tandrilax. Not dangerous unless you over do it, according to the article.

My wife already got me some book about back pain from the States, which is now in house here in Düsseldorf. I'll see if it's the same one.

[MadameButterfly]

14. Thanks

I'll look int that out of curiosity. Not planning on needing it.
Good luck with the back pain. If the book you have doesn't do it, Sarno's will.

[MadameButterfly]

15. Too bad about the caffeine

Why do they do that? Better not have pain before bedtime

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Here's that simple compound (L10); L9 and L11 were less successful in rat models.

From https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acschemneuro.5c00291

In (b), 4 should have an aldehyde group, not a vinyl group. The oxygen atom isn't showing. In the subsequent step, the 2nd equiv. of amine evidently functions as a reducing agent under basic conditions, converting a C=N double bond to a single bond. Presumably, those familiar with the chemistry of quinolines expect this.

If this compound is approved, its synthesis will be the subject of intense optimization efforts, to make it more quickly, cleanly, and efficiently. The first synthesis of a compound is almost never the best -- these researchers just wanted to get the compound so they could test it. Tweaks can wait.

[DFW]

10. I read through the Wikipedia article

It became clearer why many countries took the ingredient off the market, and why Brazil makes it a prescription drug (again--Brazilian rules). The path to overuse, abuse and overdose is obviously easy if it can be obtained everywhere.

Still, we use it only when we feel it necessary, and not as the nighttime equivalent of a vitamin C tablet, and I don't take any addictive drugs, including alcohol. I think we'll be OK.

[swong19104]

11. Oops

A simple molecule isn’t gonna make big Pharma tons of money by getting people on a lifelong regimen costing thousands of dollars a month. Can’t have that. Back to the drawing board for a more complicated drug.

[tinrobot]

16. There's no better time in history to be a rat

Let's hold off until we see how it works in humans.