While current therapies ease the symptoms, aducanumab tackles the underlying damage in the brain, raising hopes it will be the first to alter the course of the disease.

It contains an antibody that homes in on amyloid, the protein that clogs the brain in Alzheimer's, poisoning and killing the cells.

In preliminary trials, involving 165 people in the early stages of the disease, the Swiss-designed drug triggered the removal of amyloid from the brain.

And in men and women given a monthly infusion of a high dose of the drug, the amyloid all but vanished after a year.

This ‘unprecedented’ effect was deemed so significant that the results have been published in Nature, the world’s top science journal.

Reddit comment:

The FDA has given Aducanumab a Fast Track approval designation as it shows promise in slowing cognitive impairment and the progression of disability in people with early Alzheimer’s disease. Biogen is actively recruiting for Phase 3 studies. You can get more info at http://clinicaltrials.gov/

More Reddit comments:

Curcumin (found in turmeric) also does this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15590663

Curcumin inhibits formation of amyloid beta oligomers and fibrils, binds plaques, and reduces amyloid in vivo.

That paper's from 2005. It seems there's no trial on whether it prevents Alzheimers when taken regularly, but enough circumstantial evidence to be interesting (and worth a study). http://alzheimer.neurology.ucla.edu/Curcumin.html

50 Reddit comments:

https://reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/50jgel/revolutionary_drug_may_stop_alzheimer_from_ever/