A preliminary experiment involving 511 Alzheimer's patients found signs that Avandia might help quell the disease in people who lack a gene that spurs more aggressive Alzheimer's.
According to the Associated Press, those results, combined with other evidence that the diabetes pathway is important, have Avandia maker GlaxoSmithKline poised to open Phase III clinical trials this summer to test whether the diabetes drug, also called rosiglitazone, might protect certain patients' brains.
No one knows what causes the degenerative disease. Today's drugs only temporarily help symptoms.
