A team of international researchers has developed a new drug that targets the two main sites of protein Tau accumulation, a key factor in neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease. The research was published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, by the American Alzheimer’s Association.

The drug, known as RI-AG03, was effective in preventing the accumulation of Tau proteins in both major areas of accumulation in lab studies and fruit fly models.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Antonis Aggidis, a researcher at the University of Southampton, explains, “Current inhibitors of protein aggregation cause many side effects because they interfere with the function of various other proteins. RI-AG03 is specifically designed against the Tau protein, meaning it’s less likely to interact with other proteins in an undesirable way.” Dr. Aggidis developed the drug using computational biology during his postdoctoral research at Lancaster University.

The research was funded by the Alzheimer’s Association. Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research and Innovation, commented that “This research takes promising steps toward a unique new treatment that targets Tau, a harmful protein in the brains of people living with Alzheimer’s disease, by preventing its accumulation. This drug has the potential to be more targeted than other treatments currently under study, with the hope of causing fewer toxic side effects.” However, he notes that “the study is in its early stages, so we do not yet know if it will work or be safe for humans, but it is an exciting development, and we look forward to seeing where it leads.”

The researchers from the Universities of Southampton, Lancaster, Nottingham Trent, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, and UT Southwestern Medical Center in the U.S. now plan to test the drug on rodents before moving forward with clinical trials.