In a study, published in the journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a molecule identified and synthesized by UCLA Health researchers was shown to restore cognitive functions in mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease by effectively jump-starting the brain's memory circuitry.
The molecule, DDL-920, works differently from recent FDA-approved drugs for Alzheimer's disease such as lecanemab and aducanumab, which remove harmful plaque that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients. While removing this plaque has been shown to slow the rate of cognitive decline, it does not restore memory and cognitive impairments.
"They leave behind a brain that is maybe plaqueless, but all the pathological alterations in the circuits and the mechanisms in the neurons are not corrected," Mody said.
I'm not in this field, but I mean, this one seems like all the other headlines we've read about on this topic, only for them to be dead ends. Mouse models are notoriously fraught, especially in the Alzheimer's context.
Wake me up when they have treated humans in vivo.