New drug may signal breakthrough in search for Alzheimer's cure

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Hearing the words "cure" and "Alzheimer's" in the same sentence would be a medical miracle for the 5 million Americans living everyday with this devastating condition.

In the meantime, The National Institute on Aging will soon recruit a small number of patients to test a new drug that researchers hope will reverse the damage that Alzheimer's has already done.

Murial Levy and her 79-year-old husband Gordon Hallerman have been married for 10 years -- second marriages for both.

Gordon's good health faded two years ago when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

"There are times when I would walk into the kitchen and then not remember what it is I was going in there for," Gordon said.

"Gordon is doing well and we work together," Muriel explained. "But certain things he was able to do he could no longer do."

But what if he could reverse what Alzheimer's has taken away?

Dr. Sam Gandy, director at the Center for Cognitive Health at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, explores the Alzheimer's brain, the plaque build-up that destroys the nerve cells responsible for memory.

"What we've been studying is a new medicine that helps the brain to recover from injury," Dr. Gandy said. "What this medicine does is to help form new brain cells."

The drug doesn't have a name yet, only a number: BCI838. It still needs to undergo clinical trials in the elderly.

Dr. Gandy and his team have tested BCI838 in mice, and have also tested the drug for safety in humans.

The phase one clinical trial will eventually recruit older adults who have mild Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment.