For the work I do in lab (testing anti-inflammatory drugs in in vitro neural models) I did some research into etanercept when the first paper was published.
Etanercept works roughly by cleaning up that TNF-alpha which is plaqued around in Alzheimer's. It was FDA approved as an arthritis drug which (and I don't fully understand this part) allows doctors to attempt novel treatments using it without much further FDA approval.
Etanercept really does appear to cure the symptoms of Alzheimer's, quickly. The real issues are long-term effects for this sort of treatment and whether cleaning up the TNF-alpha actually does anything for fixing the causes of Alzheimer's.
Safety
After a number of studies and reports of adverse reactions in patients receiving anti-TNF alpha therapy (including serious and sometimes fatal blood disorders, infections, rare reports of lymphoma and solid tissue cancers, rare reports of serious liver injury, and rare reports of demyelinating central nervous system disorders), rare reports of congestive heart failure, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to doctors appearing in the respective product labeling of these drugs instructing them to screen and monitor potential patients more carefully. [7]
Etanercept works roughly by cleaning up that TNF-alpha which is plaqued around in Alzheimer's. It was FDA approved as an arthritis drug which (and I don't fully understand this part) allows doctors to attempt novel treatments using it without much further FDA approval.
Etanercept really does appear to cure the symptoms of Alzheimer's, quickly. The real issues are long-term effects for this sort of treatment and whether cleaning up the TNF-alpha actually does anything for fixing the causes of Alzheimer's.