A team from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine found that doxycyline offered some relief to those in the advanced stages of the disease.
It also killed the worms that cause the disease.
Some 120 million people, mostly in tropical countries, are afflicted by the condition, also known as Lymphatic Filariasis (LF).
According to BBC news, people with LF are often shunned by society and are unable to work or marry.
The disease is caused by parasitic worms, which enter the body's lymphatic system.
Mosquitos spread the disease by infecting humans when they drink their blood.
The worms produce millions of larvae which spread throughout the bloodstream via the lymphatic system.
Currently treatments for LF kill the worm larvae, which prevents transmission, but they do little to kill the adult worms. They also do not relieve symptoms once the disease has taken hold.
Trials on 51 patients in Ghana showed doxycyline killed the adults worms as well as relieved symptoms in those with LF.
Dr. Mark Taylor, from Liverpool, told BBC News, "The important breakthrough with this trial is to show that in addition to the anti-parasitic effects of antibiotic treatment, we can also improve the lives of individuals suffering from the stigmatizing elephantiasis."
