Scientists have successfully reversed Alzheimer's in a middle-aged lab mouse - using the same method as a major clinical trial in humans which was called off yesterday. 'To our knowledge, this is the first observation of such a dramatic reversal of amyloid deposition in any study of Alzheimer's disease mouse models.' Drugs that inhibit BACE1 are therefore being developed as potential Alzheimer's disease treatments. Verubecestat belongs to a class of experimental Alzheimer's drugs called BACE1 inhibitors that target an enzyme involved in the formation of the toxic amyloid protein that turns into plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. In Merck's trial, patients were given either a placebo, or 12mg or 40mg of verubecestat, once a day.

Source: Daily Mail February 14, 2018 14:15 UTC