A new hope for Alzheimer’s patients! --- Lancaster University researchers believe that, five years down the line, a breakthrough drug could be developed to block the condition!

Presently a part of a €14.6 million (£12.9 million) project under which a cure for Alzheimer’s is being developed with a drug that blocks the protein plaques which cause the disease, the researchers are hopeful that it will be possible to block the condition in its tracks before it can cause any irreversible brain damage.

According to the researchers, these protein plaques can kill nerves, and thus lead to symptoms of dementia – like a gradual loss of memory and the ability to think clearly; confusion; and, in some cases, even a change in personality.

Highlighting that “lab research (pertaining to a potential drug) is very promising,” the researchers revealed that they have been successful in detecting Alzheimer’s with quite a degree of certainty, even before the clinical symptoms start surfacing, the researchers said that they are trying to create tiny molecules that can attack and destroy harmful proteins which build up in the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient.

Noting that, in the future, it will be possible to detect Alzheimer’s disease early on and treat it even before the memory impairment increases, Professor David Allsop also added that that the cost of caring for Alzheimer’s patients is far outweighed by the cost of developing treatments for the condition --- thereby implying that the cost of developing treatments was “peanuts compared with the amount of money saved.”