Campaigners have welcomed news of a drug that can "significantly" reduce agitation among patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
The study of AVP-923 was reported to the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington DC, USA.
The drug combines dextromethorphan and quinidine and so far has been tested in a ten-week trial.
Researchers reported significant side-effects from the treatment, including falls, urinary tract infections and diarrhoea.
The UK-based Alzheimer’s Society called for further studies of the risks and benefits.
Research manager Dr Clare Walton said: "While it is encouraging to see a drug that could reduce agitation and so help people to live better with dementia, this treatment did have some side effects, including an increase in falls. This means that it may not be appropriate for all people with the condition and we need to see further studies to fully understand the risks and benefits.
"Drugs that alter behaviour need to be carefully monitored and tested to ensure that this treatment is the best course of action for the person affected."
* The conference heard early signs of effectiveness of drugs targeted at the amyloid plaques that lie behind the disease.
The so-called antibody therapies are designed to clear plaques from the brain and slow cognitive decline.
The Alzheimer’s Association says the conference has heard a range of studies of drugs that are in development.
One product, tested at New York University, is a monoclonal antibody that may act against a range of neurological diseases by targeting accumulations of proteins that cause disease, including amyloid, tau, Lewy bodies in Parkinson’s disease and prions.
Early reports of a study of aducanumab, aimed at testing safety, have found signs of it reducing amyloid plaques in the brain.
And drug company Eli Lilly reported a fresh analysis of its drug solanezumab, which had been thought to be ineffective in a large clinical trial.
This showed cognition benefits for patients who took the drug for 3.5 years – although patients taking it for two years showed no benefit. Some 1,000 patients took part in the trial and about half took placebo for the first 18 months of the study.
A study of a third drug, ganterenerumab, suggested it might be effective in high doses. A trial was stopped because of not showing any clinical benefits.
Society director of research Dr Doug Brown said: "After a decade of no new therapies for dementia, today’s news is an exciting step forward. We will have to wait for the ongoing trials to finish to know the full risks and benefits of these drugs.
"If they are positive, these drugs will be the first identified to directly interfere with the disease process and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s."
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