Common anti-seizure drug prevents Alzheimer's plaques from forming, study shows

While physicians and scientists have long known that Alzheimer's disease involves the buildup of toxic protein fragments in the brain, they have struggled to understand how these harmful fragments are produced. Now, in a new study, Northwestern University scientists have pinpointed when and where toxic proteins accumulate within the brains of Alzheimer's patients—and discovered a decades-old Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug that can stop the accumulation process before it even begins.