Alzheimer’s wonder drug could be on the horizon

AN Alzheimer’s wonder drug that could stop the disease in its tracks has moved a step closer after undergoing human trials.

Researchers have found the drug, which destroys the tau proteins that kill neurons, can dramatically slow mental decline in just nine months.

And in some patients the rate of decline returned to that seen in elderly people with healthy brains, said scientists.

The international study of 800 participants found a 4mg pill, taken twice daily, achieved this result. But in a bizarre twist the potentially revolutionary medication does not work when taken in combination with current dementia drugs that can only target symptoms – not the cause.

The drug LMTX was invented by Professor Claude Wischik, from the University of Aberdeen, and has been developed by TauRx Pharmaceuticals – the spin-off company he co-founded in 2002.

The drug was hailed as a major breakthrough in the battle against dementia after early testing showed it could slow the onset of the disease by up to two years.

It destroys a protein called tau which – in Alzheimer’s patients – breaks away from brain cells and becomes toxic, killing neurons.

LMTX is the first drug to be developed that blocks it – offering hope to more than 520,000 people with Alzheimer’s in the UK alone.

The latest study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease follows a similar trial earlier this year that suggested LMTX could be effective – even at such a low dose. It investigated its efficacy and safety in participants with mild Alzheimer’s recruited across 12 countries who were given either 100 or 4mg – intended as the control dose – twice daily over an 18-month period.

Prof Wischik said in those taking only LMTX after nine months of treatment the yearly rate of neuron loss reduced significantly.