Dementia-preventing nasal spray moves to human trials

(Rich Haridy/ New Atlas) — Scientists from Osaka City University are reporting successful preclinical tests of a novel nasal spray designed to prevent the neurodegeneration associated with dementia. The spray combines two cheap, pre-existing drugs and was found to improve cognitive function in several different mouse models of dementia.

The new study, published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, follows on from foundational research in 2016 that discovered a common antibiotic called rifampicin can reduce the accumulation of toxic proteins known to be associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease. (…)