A beta-secretase inhibitor molecule designed by a Purdue University researcher to stop the debilitating symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease has been shown in its first phase of clinical trials to be safe and to reduce plasma amyloid beta, a key biomarker for the disease.

The molecule prevents the first step in a chain of events that leads to amyloid plaque formation in the brain. This plaque formation creates fibrous clumps of toxic proteins that are believed to cause the devastating symptoms of Alzheimer’s.