New Drug For Alzheimer

Online, January 11, 2012 (Newswire.com) - The Alzheimer's disease is regarded as the second most fatal and dangerous disease all over the world, only after cancer. A person, who suffers from Alzheimer, suffers from partial memory loss in the early stages, which takes adverse turn in the latter stages resulting in complete memory loss and inability to perform simple tasks like eating or drinking. This disease affects the brain of a person and gradually kills the brain cells, which snaps the connection between different parts of the brain. Until now, whatever medicines are available for Alzheimer's are meant for treating the symptoms and causes, but has power to slow the disease progression process or cure it completely.

Recently in study published in PLoS One it has been revealed that scientist have finally discovered a drug, which is capable of halting the process of disease progression. The drug is called J147 and has given positive results, when tested on mice. The drug was discovered in Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Lead researcher of the group David Schubert believes that this drug can help Alzheimer as well as non Alzheimer patient from any possible brain cell damage problems.

Unlike other researchers Schubert used living neurons to experiment, whether they are capable of forming a protective layer against the brain cells, and prevent the attack of Alzheimer's virus. Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies also believes that this drug can be used to protect brain cells from other diseases like Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's disease and even stroke.

Currently 5.4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease. By 2050 the number is expected to reach a staggering 16 million. People in the upper age group over 60 years have a greater probability of catching Alzheimer's than their younger counterparts. Today Alzheimer is regarded as one of the most dangerous diseases, which still has no cure.