Just days after Biogen Inc. revealed promising early data from an experimental Alzheimer's treatment, new research from the Mayo Clinic may revive a long-running debate over whether the drug industry is focusing on the right target in developing therapies to treat the disease.
The study, published Tuesday in the journal Brain, found that the accumulation of dysfunctional tau protein is the real source of cognitive decline and memory loss seen in Alzheimer's. Tau destabilizes tracks used by cells to transport food and messages throughout the brain, the research found.
Biogen's drug BIIB037, and several others in advanced development, focus instead on the buildup of different set of protein fragments, called beta amyloid.
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