Context-China's National Medical Products Administration has approved the market launch of the drug, GV-971, a home-grown drug in China for Alzheimer's, which could treat the ailment in 17 years.

• Patients will be able to buy the drug around China from December 29, and more production lines will gradually be put into operation to satisfy the market demand

About GV-971 drug

• The Chinese Academy of Sciences' Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, which jointly developed the GV-971 with Green Valley and Ocean University of China after 22 years of research
• The drug is the only Alzheimer's medicine out of more than 320 developed by pharmaceutical companies around the globe to survive clinical trials
• It is extracted from brown algae, the orally taken drug is the world's first multi-targeting and carbohydrate-based drug for Alzheimer
• It can treat mild to moderate forms of the disease and improve cognition
• The drug functions mainly by rebalancing gut microbiota, reducing neuro-inflammation and reducing cognitive impairment.

What Is Alzheimer's Disease??

• Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.
• In most people with the disease—those with the late-onset type—symptoms first appear in their mid-60s. 
• Early-onset Alzheimer’s occurs between a person’s 30s and mid-60s and is very rare. 
• Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia among older adults.

Causes

• Alzheimer's disease is thought to be caused by the abnormal build-up of proteins in and around brain cells.
• One of the proteins involved is called amyloid, deposits of which form plaques around brain cells.
• The other protein is called tau, deposits of which form tangles within brain cells.
• Although it's not known exactly what causes this process to begin, scientists now know that it begins many years before symptoms appear.
• As brain cells become affected, there's also a decrease in chemical messengers (called neurotransmitters) involved in sending messages, or signals, between brain cells.
• Levels of one neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, are particularly low in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.