Breakthrough drug fights Alzheimer's (From Crewe Guardian)

Breakthrough drug fights Alzheimer's

6:17am Wednesday 30th July 2008

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A new drug could prove at least twice as effective in treating Alzheimer's disease as current medicines, research showed.

The drug, rember, slows progression of the disease by as much as 81%, a British-led study found.

People taking it for 50 weeks had a slower decline in blood flow to the parts of the brain that are important for memory than those taking a dummy pill.

Rember is the first drug to act on the tau tangles that develop in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

Experts hailed the research as a major development in the fight against Alzheimer's, which affects around 350,000 people in the UK.

The study was carried out by Professor Claude Wischik and colleagues at the University of Aberdeen.

Prof Wischik, who co-founded TauRx Therapeutics, which is developing the treatment, said: "This is an unprecedented result in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

"This is the most significant development in the treatment of the tangles since Alois Alzheimer discovered them in 1907."

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said, "This is an encouraging development in the fight against a devastating disease.

"In this exploratory trial, rember reduced the decline in blood flow to parts of the brain that are important for memory."

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