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LONDON (Reuters) - A new drug against Alzheimer's disease, developed by British researchers, has shown promise in tests on a handful of patients.

A team at the University College London found the small molecule drug caused the disappearance of a protein called SAP, thought to be involved in the disease, from the brains of five Alzheimer's patients who took it for three months.

The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Britain's Alzheimer's Research Trust, which helped fund the research, said the results with the drug, CPHPC, were cause for "cautious optimism," but it was too soon to know for sure if removing SAP from the brain would provide clinical benefit.

Larger scale clinical studies are now planned.