Global Trend

The Brave New World of "Brain Pills"

One of the long-held dreams of medical science is to find drugs that will increase intelligence and boost brain performance, aid concentration, and generally give us more control over thought, memory, and cognitive functioning. Some scientists now believe that the dream isn’t far from reality.

According to a recent report from Foresight, a future-oriented British think tank, a variety of new drugs may soon become available that will help us do everything from remembering important phone numbers to scoring higher on school exams. There will even be pills that smokers could take to break the habit.

Since the 1980s, researchers have made tremendous advances in neuroscience, genetics, and our general understanding of the brain. Technologies that were unimaginable just 20 years ago now allow us to look inside the brain and see how it works. In addition, pharmacology, aided by genetic engineering and high-tech biochemistry, has created better custom-designed drugs. Together, these have advanced our understanding of the brain and of how chemicals affect our behavior.

As a result, scientists are now seeing the possibility of genuine treatments for mental illness, actual cures for addictions of all sorts, and true enhancements of everyday mental processes. This new class of drugs is known as cognition enhancers. There seems to be little doubt in the scientific community that in our hectic, increasingly competitive world there will be widespread use of them as soon as they are available.

In fact, brain drugs are already in widespread use. The most common one is caffeine. Ritalin is prescribed to thousands of children with attention deficit disorder. Soldiers have long used various drugs to enhance or extend performance.

But in the last quarter century, amazing advances in both investigative technology and the pharmaceutical industry have led to the development of much more sophisticated drugs. These are now being used not just to treat mental illnesses, but for a wide variety of enhancements, even as newer, more targeted drugs are coming on line.

For example, Modafinil, which was developed to treat narcolepsy, is now being used to aid concentration on tasks. It improves memory, brightens the mood, and enhances alertness, but it doesn’t cause the anxiety and jitters associated with older analogs, such as amphetamines. And, unlike amphetamines or cocaine, it’s not addictive.

The U.S. military is already using Modafinil to keep soldiers alert, and it may find use among night-shift workers.

Another class of drugs that improve memory, known as ampakines, have recently undergone a clinical trial, according to a report in New Scientist. These drugs, which have been compared to “Viagra for the brain,” boost the levels of glutamate, a brain chemical that helps people learn and remember information. A study of a drug from this class called CX717 has yielded promising results.

The study of 16 male volunteers at the University of Surrey in England found that taking CX717 increased their alertness and mental ability, even when they were kept awake all night and given a low dose. The higher the dose, the better the volunteers performed. The researchers expect the drug to be used as a treatment for jet lag, Alzheimer’s disease, and ADHD.

In light of this potent trend, we offer the five following forecasts for your consideration:

First, between now and 2015, huge advances will be made in the development of painkillers, anti-stress drugs, and brain enhancers. These are the most active and productive areas of pharmacological research today. Many drugs now being tested for use in brain-related diseases of the elderly, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, will be extended and modified to produce cognitive enhancements in younger, healthier people or those suffering from much less severe disorders.

Second, as the general understanding of the brain’s communications systems improves, drugs will be joined by other advances to enhance health and performance. For example, direct electrical stimulation of certain brain areas has already been used to treat Parkinson’s Disease effectively. It has recently been tested for depression. In the future, nanotechnology will allow the direct implantation of small devices to provide the necessary electrical stimulation to cure such diseases or improve performance.

Third, drug-enabled memory enhancement will be commonplace by 2020. Already, certain drugs used for treating Alzheimer’s are being tested for that purpose. Ritalin is also being used by some businesspeople to improve performance in the boardroom. And dextra-amphetamine has been shown to improve memory in people with a particular genetic profile. As these effects become better understood, memory enhancement will become the norm in every setting, from the corporate world to universities.

Fourth, memory deletion will become common by mid-century. Basic science is now being done that shows how a memory is called up and stored. The process involves the creation of proteins that represent the memory, and the activation of genes to recreate those proteins when the memory is retrieved. By turning off those genes, the memory could be, in effect, deleted. This would have huge implications for people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Fifth, using nanotechnology and stem cells, scientists ultimately will be able to repair brain injuries completely, whether the cause is an accident or a disease like Alzheimer’s. Through combining these technologies, tailored brain enhancements and therapies could become the norm.

References List :
1. The Guardian, July 14, 2005, “Scientists Predict Brave New World of Brain Pills,” by Alok Jha. ⓒ Copyright 2005 by Guardian Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. 2. New Scientist, May 28, 2005, “11 Steps to a Better Brain,” by Kate Douglas, Alison George, Bob Holmes, Graham Lawton, John McCrone, Alison Motluk, and Helen Phillips. ⓒ Copyright 2005 by Reed Business Information Ltd. All rights reserved.