New Pills For Addled Minds

Mice are imperfect models for testing treatments for human diseases. Even so, scientists at the University of Toronto are excited by what transpires when they administer a small molecule called scyllo-inositol to mice whose brains are riddled with protein plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. In studies reported in the online edition of Nature Medicine, researchers fed the drug to mice implanted with human genes that predispose them to develop a disease resembling Alzheimer's.

Not only did the plaques vanish after the treatment, but cognitive functions also returned, and the animals lived longer than untreated mice with the same condition. Transition Therapeutics, a public Canadian company, has initiated early-stage trials in human subjects.