It has been known for a long time now that cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, is a nootropic and more importantly, is somewhat neuroprotective for PD and AD. It is also known that cotinine is well tolerated by human subjects and has none of the negative side effects of nicotine itself. Given today's great concern regarding both PD and AD, how can it be that research on this compound, very closely approximating a "silver bullet" if you will, is not being conducted with great intensity by NIH and/or the pharma industry? Why does this seemingly magical solution to so many problems sit on the side while less practicable molecules get to dance?
I don't get it. There is tons of research supporting this but not much is happening. Why?
We should always be cautious about using phrases such as "silver bullet" or "magical solution" in describing novel pharmacological or medical interventions. That said, cotinine does seem to be very safe, and to have some potentially very useful therapeutic applications.
Safety of Cotinine in Humans: Physiologic, Subjective, and Cognitive Effects
Pharmacology Biocehmistry + Behvaiour Aug 1997
Hatsukami et al
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091305797800019
There's a great summary of some of the research (up to 2012) here;
Cotinine: beyond that expected, more than a biomarker of tobacco consumption.
Moran
Front. Pharmacol., 10 October 2012 | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2012.00173
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2012.00173/full
This 2014 study evaluates nicotine, cotinine, and a series of nicotine or cotinine analogs in comparison with existing treatments;
Evaluation of nicotine and cotinine analogs as potential neuroprotective agents for Alzheimer’s disease
Gao et al
Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2014 Feb 14. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2014.02.008
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4027973/
Yes, Paul, I agree. I was being a bit hyperbolic and put "silver bullet" in quotes for that very reason. Thanks for the links; I read one of them previously. I have read much on this and chatted with someone very active in research in this area. The question still stands: Why is this going nowhere?
Not much is known about this compound. Maybe because I'm not a doctor or a pharmacist, but I haven't heard of her, just something about organic chemistry.
I regret that I missed your comment until now. Here is the article my question is based upon. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303243014 I am certain that more of Dr. Echeverria's work can be found here on ResearchGate.
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