Summary: Axona is Accera’s new product for people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s. Available in the U.S. by prescription only, Axona is marketed as a medical food. This means it was not subject to FDA pre-market review and approval. Results of the company’s trials of Axona sound promising, but we’ll have to wait for more data to be published to get a better idea how effective the product is.
Suddenly, Axona is everywhere. I heard people talking about it at a local Alzheimer’s educational event last week. There’s an advertisement for it on the back cover of the latest edition of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s magazine, care ADvantage. Accera, the company that developed Axona, is also a silver sponsor of the Alzheimer’s Association’s upcoming ICAD conference.
Axona is designed to address the “hypometabolism,” or reduced use of glucose, seen in some areas of the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. Glucose is the brain’s source of energy. Axona is formulated as a powder, and is mixed with water to make a once-a-day drink.
The product is unique in its approach to Alzheimer’s and in Accera's choice to market it as a “medical food.” I talked last week with Steve Orndorff, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Accera, to get more details.