Minocycline?

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Has anyone heard if Minocycline has shown any positive effects, or is it "just another shot in the dark"? :(

thanks
 
Phase 3 Minocycline study was completed end of 2005, the results have not been reported:

http://www.mdausa.org/research/view_ctrial.cfm?id=84

A new "combination"study will look at Minocycline in combination with Creatine:

http://www.alsa.org/news/article.cfm?id=858

The latter being somewhat bizarre in light of the failure of the recent Creatine ALS study:

http://www.mdausa.org/research/view_ctrial.cfm?id=114

In addition to which ALS-TDF Treatment Investigator John McCarty posted over at the ALS-TDF Forum that minocycline is pretty much a washout:

http://www.als.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=408&SearchTerms=minocycline

"ALS TDF has looked pretty intensely at minocycline as a potential treatment. You can see a partial summation of some of the literature as well as access our mouse trial on the ALS TDF website. Go to the Pipeline section (http://www.als.net/research/inourlab/pipeline.asp) and find the drug in question after clicking the ‘Closeout’ box. Unfortunately, we have not been able to see any real indication of efficacy in the ALS mouse model (human G93A over-expressing). The treatment was attempted both with intraperitoneal as well as oral dosing and there was data to suggest that the drug was getting to the spine and brain at significant levels. These results are potentially in contrast to other published reports using the mouse model. Again, unfortunately, almost all studies to date on the mouse model reporting modest improvements in animal survival with any drug are either statistically marginal or irrelevant.

John McCarty, PhD
Treatment Investigator,
ALS Therapy Development Foundation"

IOW I'd be looking elsewhere for answers.
 
ladave said:
Phase 3 Minocycline study was completed end of 2005, the results have not been reported:

http://www.mdausa.org/research/view_ctrial.cfm?id=84

A new "combination"study will look at Minocycline in combination with Creatine:

http://www.alsa.org/news/article.cfm?id=858

The latter being somewhat bizarre in light of the failure of the recent Creatine ALS study:
.
I guess the thinking is that if you combine two drugs that don't work individually, together they won't work twice as well.
 
John1 said:
I guess the thinking is that if you combine two drugs that don't work individually, together they won't work twice as well.

Now, now, John, you're using way too much common sense:)
 
There is an older mouse study showing that combining the supplement creatine and the antibiotic minocycline significantly slows disease progression and prolongs survival in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/news_article_als_combination_treatment.htm

Has this study been discredited?

John1 said:
I guess the thinking is that if you combine two drugs that don't work individually, together they won't work twice as well.

Actually - I don't think that we will find one single drug to treat ALS. I think that there are so many processes involved with nerve degeneration that any successful program will involve a number of drugs or treatments - the combined effect being greater than the sum of the individual effects. The miracle treatment may involve a number of drugs or supplements that on their own don't have any benefit - but when used together - jackpot!

Think of potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal - on their own - fairly benign - put them together - boom! Gunpowder.
 
I was not impressed with the creatine-minocycline trial and disagree with their conclusions. From the paper:

The minocycline injections and creatine supplements delayed disease onset to 113 and 111 days, respectively, compared with 94 days in the untreated group. The two drugs delayed mortality to 142 and 141 days, respectively, compared to 126 days in the control group - a 13 and 12 percent improvement in survival. However, mice in the minocycline-creatine combination group did significantly better than mice receiving either creatine or minocycline alone. They did not show disease onset until 122 days and they survived for an average of 157 days - a 25 percent improvement in survival compared to untreated mice.

From this they conclude there was a 25% increase in survival but I would argue not so. There was a delay in disease onset (by providing medication long before any symptoms were present - hardly realistic) but the mean survival times in the 2 groups are only marginally different. The untreated group survived 32 days with the disease and the creatine-minocycline group survived 35 days - probably not a statistically significant difference considering the small number of mice in the two groups.

I do think a cocktail approach will probably be better than a one drug approach, just not sure creatine-minocycline is it.
 
Hi John,

I agree with you on the conclusion. Henry was on minocyoline for a year in the trial in London. Did it work? Did we see any substantial difference in the progression or in prolonging Henry's life? I do not think so, but, who knows. All I know that there were no conclusive results in his trial, so, maybe we should just let them prescribe it for acne, as it was intially intended for.However, something is better than nothing, and if you do not try, you will never know.

Carol
 
Minocycline for CWD bacteria

One should be at least somewhat aware that pharmaceuticals would make little by selling cheap antibiotics for treatment of chronic disease. From what I've read in the past, researchers are often very tied to pharmaceuticals.

** Unacceptable, please read the TOS **
** 1st post, (5) links posted for (5) non-authoritative PPC websites**
** All links removed **

A biomedical researcher has recently stated the following about some researchers studying minocycline in chronic disease:

"They didn't use mino because it is an antibiotic. They used it because they think it has some (yet to-be-defined) anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties. They still don't get it"
 
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And your sites DO GET IT? Every one I looked at was selling something. Very close to the no advertising rule.
 
Amen Al. I agree with you on that one. Buyer beware, and paitients be careful.

Carol
 
Bah hum bug; I removed the links.

All errors or mistakes are my own, feel free to contact me amigo.
 
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