A new study has just revealed that a common anti-inflammatory drug that is typically used to treat menstrual pain in women may actually be effective in treating chronic neurodegenerative disease, a huge breakthrough that could mark a big step forward in both understanding Alzheimer’s disease and getting it under control. The study was performed on mice and found that mefenamic acid, used to treat period pain, is capable of reversing memory loss and brain inflammation that is the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

A total of 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, so such a discovery would have a huge impact immediately. The disease is marked by a slow steady decline in brain function to the point that people who have it ultimately completely forget everything about their lives, making it an extremely trying disease for both patients and their families. Scientists based their findings on testing mefenamic acid on 20 transgenic mice with Alzheimer’s symptoms, according to a University of Manchester statement.

Researchers divided the mice into two groups, giving one group mefenamic acid and the other a placebo for a month via mini-pump implanted underneath the skin. Memory loss was fully reversed for the mefenamic acid group.

“Our research shows for the first time that mefenamic acid, a simple Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drug can target an important inflammatory pathway called the NLRP3 inflammasome , which damages brain cells,” Dr. David Brough from The University of Manchester said in the statement. “Until now, no drug has been available to target this pathway, so we are very excited by this result. However, much more work needs to be done until we can say with certainty that it will tackle the disease in humans as mouse models don’t always faithfully replicate the human disease. Because this drug is already available and the toxicity and pharmacokinetics of the drug is known, the time for it to reach patients should, in theory, be shorter than if we were developing completely new drugs. We are now preparing applications to perform early phase II trials to determine a proof-of-concept that the molecules have an effect on neuroinflammation in humans.”