Greg Cole, associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at UCLA, said the finding should cause an upheaval of several major clinical trials now testing the more expensive anti- inflammatory drugs -- including naproxen, Celebrex and Vioxx -- for potential prevention of Alzheimer's.

Dr. Leon Thal, director of Alzheimer's disease research at UCSD, said his colleagues' findings are inconsistent with previous epidemiologic studies showing a decreased risk of Alzheimer's among arthritis patients taking either naproxen or ibuprofen.

2 PICS; 1. Dr. [Sascha Weggen] harvested cells at a UCSD laboratory yesterday. Weggen and Dr. [Edward Koo] are conducting research into the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. 2. Dr. Edward Koo and Dr. Sascha Weggen have written a research paper that found the common drug ibuprofen may help prevent the buildup of plaque on the brain that could cause Alzheimer's disease. (B-4:7); Credit: 1,2. K.C. Alfred / Union-Tribune