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A breakthrough Alzheimer's drug edges scientists one step closer to a cure, new research suggests.

Taken twice a day, a tablet, known as LMTX, significantly improves dementia sufferers' brain injuries to the extent their MRI scans resemble those of healthy people after just nine months, a study found.

Lead author Professor Gordon Wilcock from the University of Oxford told MailOnline: 'I haven't seen such brain injury recovery before after a drug treatment.'

LMTX, which is under investigation, also significantly improves patients' abilities to carry out everyday tasks such as bathing and dressing themselves, while also boosting their capabilities to correctly name objects and remember the date, the research adds.

The drug contains a chemical that dissolves protein 'tangles' in the brain that clump together to form plaques in the region associated with memory, according to its manufacturer TauRx Pharmaceuticals. Y

Dissolving these tangles and preventing the formation of new plaques may slow or even halt memory loss in dementia sufferers, the pharma company adds. 

Alzheimer's disease affects around 850,000 people in the UK and 5.5 million in the US. How the research was carried out 

Researchers from the universities of Oxford and Aberdeen analysed 800 Alzheimer's patients across 12 countries.

The study's participants received a 100mg LMTX tablet twice a day for 18 months.

They were tested on their ability to name objects, follow commands such as 'make a fist', recall items from a list of 10 and identify their name, the time of day and date.

Their ability to eat without help, use a telephone, wash and dress themselves, and control their bowel and bladder was also assessed.

MRI scans monitored the participants' brain injury. 

Patients' brain scans resemble those without dementia after nine months 

Results reveal after just nine months patients' brain injuries improved significantly to the extent their MRI scans resembled those of healthy, elderly people without dementia.

Professor Wilcock said: 'I haven't seen such brain injury recovery before after a drug treatment.' 

The participants' ability to complete tasks such as correctly naming objects and eating unassisted also significantly improved. 

Drug side effects were largely gastrointestinal or urinary related, which caused 40 patients to discontinue the treatment.

Professor Wilcock said: 'This drug, like all drugs, has side effects, the bigger the dose the more likely you are to get side effects.' 

Further studies investigating a lower LMTX dose are due to begin shortly. 

Professor Wilcock said: 'It will only be approved and available for patients if future trials are positive. It will probably be another five years.' 

The findings were published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. 

Dr James Pickett, head of research at Alzheimer's Society, said: 'When the results of the LMTX drug were first presented in 2016, questions were raised amongst the research community about how the results were interpreted. 

'This newer trial takes a different analytical approach and while we encourage researchers to explore all potential angles in their data there are some issues remaining that mean we cannot interpret this data as a positive result. 

'These issues include the lack of a strong control group and that the numbers of people who were taking LMTX alone are quite small. 

'We have been waiting more than 15 years for a new drug for dementia. This was the first large-scale trial to target another potential culprit, the tau protein. From the results that we have seen, we cannot say that LMTX is an effective drug for Alzheimer's.