First pill that halts decline in brain caused by Alzheimer’s

A PILL taken twice a day has stalled deterioration of the brain in Alzheimer’s patients for the first time.

Scientists announced yesterday that the mental decline of participants in a final-stage trial had been halted for 18 months, raising hopes that an effective treatment for the drug, called LMTX, is close at hand.

Patients saw no weakening of their memory and reasoning skills over the year and a half they were taking the pills, and their ability to undertake everyday tasks remained the same.

The trial had initially shown unpromising results because the drug did not appear to work on Alzheimer’s patients who were also taking other dementia medicines.

But they were encouraging for the 15 per cent of the 891 patients who were on no other medicines.

As well as maintaining their fundamental cognitive skills during the 18 months, key areas of their brains shrank a third less than the other trial participants.

Dr Serge Gauthier, of McGill University, presented the results to the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto.

“This is the first time it has happened in our field that a drug reduces the rate of brain atrophy,” he said. Dr Gauthier said he shared the desperate need of Alzheimer’s patients and their families for “a truly therapeutic product”.

He added: “In a field that has been plagued by consistent failures of novel drug candidates in late-stage clinical trials, and where there has been no practical therapeutic advance for over a decade, I am excited about the promise of LMTX as a potential new treatment option for these patients.”

A substance in red wine, raspberries and dark chocolate could help protect against Alzheimer’s.

In trials, resveratrol which naturally occurs in these products was found to impose a “crowd control” function where harmful molecules gain access to the brain in Alzheimer’s patients.

“These are very exciting findings,” said Charbel Moussa, a research director at the US Georgetown University Medical Centre. The dose used was equivalent to 1,000 bottles of red.