Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, a condition that affects memory, thinking, and behavior.
It slowly damages the brain and gets worse over time. Right now, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s.
The few drugs that are available can only help a little and only work in the early stages. But now, scientists from the University of Barcelona in Spain have developed a new drug that could one day make a big difference.
This potential new treatment is the result of seven years of research. It was created by a large team of scientists from several research centers in Spain and Germany.
The study was led by Mercè Pallàs and Santiago Vázquez, professors from the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences. Their findings were recently published in a respected scientific journal called ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science.
The researchers tested the new drug in two groups of mice that were bred to develop Alzheimer’s-like symptoms. In these mice, the drug showed strong protective effects in the brain. It helped reduce brain inflammation, improved memory, and supported the health of the brain’s network of nerve cells.
These results are important because they suggest the drug does more than just treat symptoms—it may actually slow down or change the course of the disease.
This drug works in a different way from most past treatments. For the last 10 years, many experimental drugs have focused on removing certain harmful proteins (called beta-amyloid plaques) from the brain. But these efforts have mostly failed to help patients. The team in Barcelona decided to focus on another key part of the disease: inflammation in the brain.
Inflammation is the body’s way of fighting injury or infection, but in Alzheimer’s disease, the brain stays in a state of constant, low-level inflammation. This can cause more damage over time. The new drug helps by blocking a specific enzyme called soluble epoxide hydrolase (or sEH), which plays a role in controlling inflammation and pain in the body.
When this enzyme is blocked, helpful molecules called EETs (epoxyeicosatrienoic acids) increase in the brain. These molecules are natural anti-inflammatory agents that can protect brain cells and improve blood flow in the brain.
The study showed that mice treated with the new drug had better memory and brain function. Their brain cells stayed healthier, and the connections between them were stronger. Even more impressive, the benefits continued even one month after the drug was stopped, suggesting long-lasting effects.
Another key point is that this drug seems to work better than common anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, which did not help much in the same mouse models. Unlike drugs that target just one pathway in the body, this new treatment works on multiple inflammation-related systems at once. This broader action might explain why it appears to be more effective.
Although the results are promising, the scientists warn that it will take many years before this drug could be used in people. Turning a new compound into a safe, approved medicine is a long and costly process.
The drug must go through many stages of testing, starting with lab and animal studies, followed by several rounds of clinical trials in human patients. These trials test safety, correct dosage, and how well the drug works. The entire process often takes more than a decade.
Still, there is real hope. The researchers have already patented the drug, and a pharmaceutical company in the United States has bought the rights to develop it further. This company will now begin preclinical and clinical testing.
The scientists from the University of Barcelona will continue to work closely with the company as expert advisors to make sure the project stays on track.
This new study offers a fresh direction for Alzheimer’s research. Instead of focusing on removing brain plaques—an approach that has failed in many cases—it targets brain inflammation, which is now recognized as a major factor in the disease. The idea of blocking the sEH enzyme to increase natural anti-inflammatory molecules is a clever and promising strategy.
One of the most exciting findings is that the drug not only improved memory in mice but also helped protect the brain’s structure. The fact that the benefits lasted even after treatment stopped suggests the drug might truly modify the disease, not just ease its symptoms.
Another important strength is that this treatment works on several parts of the inflammation process at once. That could give it a better chance of success compared to drugs that only focus on one thing. And the fact that it outperformed ibuprofen, a widely used anti-inflammatory, is a very positive sign.
Of course, the real test will come when the drug is given to people. The path from lab to medicine cabinet is long, and many drug candidates fail along the way. But with a strong team behind it, support from a pharmaceutical company, and promising early results, this new compound could represent a meaningful step forward in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.
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The research findings can be found in ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science.
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