NEW HOPE FOR ALZHEIMER'S PATIENTS?

Alzheimer's patients may soon be getting a new drug to help combat their disease.

Dimebon from the US drugmaker Medivation Inc, has been shown in studies to help patients with mild to moderate forms of Alzheimer's improve memory, language, awareness of time and place, and a more complex process called "praxis", which means having an idea and then actually putting it into practice after one year on the active drug as compared to those taking a placebo.

Patients began showing improvement after 12 weeks, and were sustained after six months and a year. Also, at the six month point, the patients on the drug showed significantly better function on all five aspects of the disease than they did at the start of the trial.

The drugmaker is planning to start a second trial soon, after which it will apply for US and European marketing approval in 2010, said the company in a press statement.

The drug is also being evaluated as a treatment for Huntington's disease.