Hope for Alzheimer’s Patients as Researchers Develop Drug to Halt Memory Loss

Researchers at University of Sydney in Australia revealed that they might have developed a drug that could reduce the progression of memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease and are hoping to start testing the drugs on humans in the near future. The researchers revealed that the drug acts by preventing the deterioration of nerve cells containing tau protein, an enzyme that is present in the central nervous system to stabilize microtubules.

However the researchers added that the drug can only be used to prevent further damage and it cannot repair the damage to the nerve cells that has already occurred.

The research team, led by Dr Lars Ittner, said that the drug has been successfully tested among mice and revealed that they are now in the process of contacting pharmaceutical firms in order to conduct human trials. The researchers expressed hope that the new drug could be available in the market in the next five years. The study has been published in the journal PLoS One.

Source-Medindia