Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the progressive loss of memory and thinking skills. It was first presented at a meeting in 1906 by Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist, who discovered “neurofibrillary tangles” in the brain tissue of a woman who died with dementia at the age of 55 .

In collaboration with Sir Martin Roth, Professor Claude Wischik (Chairman of TauRx) first characterized the structure of the neurofibrillary tangle , discovered that it is composed of Tau protein and, together with the scientific team he assembled, proved that Tau aggregation in the brain is directly linked to clinical dementia .

The findings of the Wischik team have also been affirmed by other notable researchers in the field.

There are currently two main hypotheses regarding the cause of dementia in Alzheimer’s disease: the Aß cascade hypothesis based on Aß aggregation outside neurons, and the Tau aggregation hypothesis based on Tau aggregates forming within neurons.

In its search for a disease modifying agent, there has been debate in the scientific community for the last 20 years between these two mainstream views.