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Alzheimer Therapy works wonders in early trials

A potential wonder drug has been developed which, scientists hope, could stall or even reverse damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease.

Patients taking higher doses of an experimental drug called “rember” showed an “81% reduction” in mental decline within a year.

Tested at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, "Rember" uses a chemical found in dye to break down protein “tangles” that clog sufferers’ brains.

After 24 months of treatment with 60 mg three times a day of methylthioninum chloride (Rember), patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease achieved a treatment effect that "was twice the effect seen with donepezil (Aricept)," said Claude Wischik, Ph.D., of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

The drug targets the build-up of “tau protein tangles” inside brain cells and it may even have “preventative application” in early stages of the disease.

Dementia is associated with the build-up of these "tangles" in the brain.

Wischik reportedly discovered the benefit of methylthioninium chloride (Rember) by chance when he dropped it into a test tube and the tau protein he had been working on disappeared.

Although the drug is available, Dr. Wischik said he could not recommend widespread use of methylene blue to treat Alzheimer's disease, because proof of efficacy requires a phase III trial.

He added that the drug used in his trial was "much purer" than the formulation currently available.