The treatment, which was developed by scientists at the University of Aberdeen and unveiled at an international conference in Chicago last night, has been found to slow the progress of the disorder by 81 per cent over a year. Patients receiving the study treatment were also found not to have experienced a significant decline in their mental function over 19 months. 

Professor Claude Wischik, Chairman of TauRx Therapeutics and Professor of Psychiatric Geratology and Old Age Psychiatry at the University of Aberdeen’s Institute of Medical Sciences, who led the research, said:  “This is an unprecedented result in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. We have demonstrated for the first time that it may possible to arrest the progression of this disease by targeting the tangles which are highly correlated with the disease.” 

The drug, rember, works by targeting the tangles – aggregates of abnormal fibres of tau protein forming inside nerve cells in the brain - which destroy nerve cells critical for memory and then neurons in other parts of the brain as the disease progresses. 

Ninety-six people living in North east Scotland were among the 321 taking part in the trial of the treatment. Patients reported that they felt more confident, were better able to cope with daily life and had had not experienced the degree of mental decline that they had expected. 

Dr Donald Mowat, consultant psychiatrist, said the team had been “heartened” by benefits reported. 

He said: “This does seem very encouraging. These findings now need to be confirmed in a bigger, international Phase 3 trial and the Aberdeen team are very keen to be part of that. When we receive the go-ahead for that, we can start to identify patients who would meet the trial criteria, and invite them to take part.”