A drug used for the treatment of asthma can help reverse the cognitive impairments like memory loss caused by abnormal accumulations of a protein in patients with Alzheimer's disease, breakthrough research on mice has shown.

Tau protein is the second-most important lesion in the brain causing memory deficits and impairments in spatial learning among patients with Alzheimer's, the first being abnormal levels of beta-amyloid proteins that clump together to form plaques that collect between neurons and disrupt cell function.