Drug may get to the root of Alzheimer's

A clinical trial led by researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia has found an antibiotic that appears to reduce the plaque is thought to cause many of the debilitating symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

New treatemts and could lead to the development of a new treatments, researchers reported on Monday. The drug, clioquinol, appears to improve cognitive function in patients by lowering levels of a protein known as beta-amyloid that is thought to be implicated in the build-up of plaques and tangles in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

Read the Reuters Health Summary of the research