Daily tablet shows astonishing success in slowing or even reversing dementia in new studies

A twice-daily tablet regularly used by the NHS could slow or even reverse certain forms of incurable dementia, a study claims.

A 2015 study previously showed that nilotinib, a blood cancer drug, improved movement and mental function in a small group of patients with Parkinson’s disease-related dementia and Lewy body dementia.

In some patients, the £2,000-a-year drug even appeared to reverse symptoms of dementia – with one woman able to feed herself again and three non-verbal patients speaking again.

Now a larger study involving 43 participants has confirmed that nilotinib can improve balance, cognition and memory in patients with Lewy body dementia – a form of dementia caused by protein deposits known as Lewy bodies that form in the develop brain.

Experts believe that nilotinib – which works by blocking the production of new cells in the body – can enter the brain and reduce the buildup of these toxic proteins.

A new daily tablet available on the NHS could slow or even reverse certain cancers (file photo)

It is thought that a similar effect is seen in people with Parkinson’s disease – a form of memory and cognition loss caused by the degenerative brain disorder – because these patients also suffer from collections of Lewy bodies.

Significantly, some experts even claim the pill could slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, which remains incurable despite billions of pounds of funding and decades of research.

“It appears that nilotinib is able to modify some of the key abnormal proteins in the brain that cause dementia, slowing cognitive decline in patients,” said Dr. John-Paul Taylor, professor of translational dementia at the University of Newcastle and specialist in Lewy body dementia.

Dementia affects around a million people in Britain. The majority of them suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, while about 100,000 suffer from dementia with Lewy bodies and about 90,000 from Parkinson’s dementia.

All forms are incurable and until recently there were no medicines that could stop this.

In the past two years, studies have shown that two new Alzheimer’s drugs slow progression by as much as a third. These infusions, lecanemab and donanemab, attack a protein in the brain called amyloid plaque.

However, earlier this year the NHS announced it would not fund either treatment as the benefit was not considered significant enough to justify the high cost.

There are also concerns about the safety of both drugs after it was reported that a number of patients suffered dangerous brain bleeds, leading to several deaths.

However, the latest research, conducted at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, opens up the possibility of a safer and cheaper alternative.

Nilotinib is currently used by the NHS for chronic myelogenous leukemia – a rare form of cancer that affects the bone marrow and white blood cells. The drug is taken in capsule form twice a day.

Although all patients were considered to have mild to moderate dementia at the start of the study, those taking nilotinib saw their cognitive assessment score – which measures attention, memory, language and orientation – improve by almost 15 percent.

Caregivers of patients taking nilotinib also reported that behavioral symptoms such as irritability and apathy improved.

Some claim the pill could even slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, for which there is currently no cure (file photo)

And the nilotinib group experienced 70 percent fewer falls — which researchers say may be due to their improved cognition.

Crucially, participants reported no side effects from the medication.

“All the biomarkers and all the clinical and cognitive outcomes were moving in the right direction,” said researcher and Georgetown neurology professor Dr. Raymond Scott Turner.

Professor Taylor said: ‘Nilotinib is a very intriguing, positive and promising signal for a group of patients with very few treatment options.

‘If you have a disease-modifying drug, it usually doesn’t make you better, but it doesn’t make you worse either. The interesting thing about this one is that not only do you not get worse, you actually improve.”