Old hayfever treatment could be best Alzheimer's drug

A new study proposes the observable universe lies in a void, challenging our most cherished assumptions It's been a strange week for Alzheimer's patients, with both good and bad news from two different studies. An abandoned drug rescued from the scrapheap has provided the best results yet of any drug against the disease, and is also the first to continue improving symptoms of patients the longer they take it. Developed as an antihistamine in Russia and newly tested for a year on 120 Alzheimer's patients, the drug Dimebon raised standard scores of practical cognitive abilities to almost 7 points above those receiving placebo, a relatively large difference on a 70-point scale. The study, published in The Lancet, was led by Rachelle Doody of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Yet the same edition also includes some... [read full story]