Scientists said they've developed a new drug that slows down and may even halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
The preventative treatment, called TauR and created by an Aberdeenshire-based life sciences company, is being hailed as the first breakthrough in 20 years.
The new drug, waiting to be signed off by regulators, will tackle the 'underlying pathology' of Alzheimer's disease, one of the UK's biggest causes of death.
It could even "potentially stop memory loss" by addressing the build-up of proteins and halting the deterioration of brain function in Alzheimer's patients.
It is the first preventative Alzheimer's treatment - until now medication has only been able to provide some symptomatic relief.
By the middle of this century, an estimated one million Brits will be impacted due to the ageing population.
The causes of the disease are still poorly understood and previous medications have only been able to alleviate symptoms.
TauRx results from its late-stage clinical trial, LUCIDITY, show the new investigational drug leads to sustained cognitive improvement at an early, clinically detectable stage of Alzheimer’s – offering the prospect of improved brain function for patients.
The company is now pursuing regulatory submissions in the UK, US and Canada to prepare for market availability.
Dr Sonya Miller, the head of medical affairs at TauRx, said the new medicine aims to extend patients’ quality of life.
Dr Miller said: “It's been a 20-year process since the last medications were actually approved and they were symptomatic - they didn't attack the disease pathology itself, they just gave slight symptomatic relief.
“There is a coming raft of oral medicine, including ours, which are disease-modifying, and the minute you produce a tablet, you increase the reach of the drug.
“They’re easy to store, easy to administer and everyone understands the treatment. People feel comfortable with it.”
Disease-modifying “means that you can actually tackle the underlying pathology”, she explained.
Dr Miller said: “So the tau protein is one of the key pathologies of Alzheimer's disease.
"We stop the accumulation, the re-accumulation of this protein that causes problems. That’s the simple explanation.
“So if you can disease modify, you can stop a disease progressing, so you retain someone at the level they're at and you stop that potential progression, or further loss of function.”
Professor Claude Wischik, co-founder and executive chairman of TauRx, together with colleagues at the University of Aberdeen, devoted nearly 30 years to investigating the structure and role of ‘tau tangles’ in the development of Alzheimer’s, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other neurodegenerative diseases.
These ‘tangles’ are abnormal proteins, called tau, which impair the brain function of Alzheimer’s sufferers.
Professor Wischik and the University of Aberdeen are the original discoverers of the composition of the tau protein pathology in Alzheimer’s.
The experimental compound involved in clinical trials belongs to a class of drugs known as Tau Aggregation Inhibitors.
According to TauRx, “by undoing the tangles that cause dementia, we aim to slow and potentially stop memory loss”.
Dr Miller said: “Our long term aim, once we have got it out into the population, is to say 'this works across everybody', that we can stop the progression, then you can look at introducing it at an earlier stage.
“So it becomes prophylactic. You can say to patients you won't ever reach this point of disease progression. You won't lose that function.
“You do screening with diagnostic tests and blood biomarkers. That's the ultimate aim - that you stop people ever getting to the point of having impairment.
"This disease is incredibly complex, and it affects anyone and everyone, it's not in isolation."
