News of a possible new treatment for Alzheimer's disease has sparked hope among local health care providers.

Researchers reported this week that an experimental drug called Rember shows promise for halting the progression of Alzheimer's.

Mark Simaga, a Merrillville neurologist, cautioned that it's still early in the study.

"But it is hopeful," said Simaga, one of eight doctors with the Northern Indiana Neurological Institute who together treat hundreds of Alzheimer's disease sufferers locally.

"It's showing a new way of affecting how Alzheimer's progresses," Simaga said.

Makers of Rember reported in Chicago this week at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease that the drug shows promise for halting the progression of Alzheimer's by breaking up the protein tangles that clog victims' brains.

Scientists for decades had focused on a different protein, beta-amyloid, which forms sticky clumps outside of the cells, but haven't yet gotten a workable treatment.

Rember, developed by Singapore-based Tau Rx Therapeutics, is in the second of three stages of development.

The hope is developing treatment for a disease that afflicts more than 26 million people worldwide, a number that is expanding as the population ages.

About 100,000 Indiana residents make up the 26 million people worldwide afflicted by Alzheimer's, said Kristi Kajewski, of the Alzheimer's Association Greater Indiana Chapter.

"It's exciting that there are so many new trials of drugs that are in the pipeline," Kajewski said.

Reports of the study suggest "the drug might change the course of the disease," said Patrick Healey, an Indianapolis-based doctor who specializes in the treatment of older people.

"I would say it's a ray of hope and optimism," Healey said.

With research on experimental drugs still ongoing, patients and their families need to know there are ways to help Alzheimer's victims, including optimizing their quality of life, said Jim Kozelka, a Valparaiso-based neurologist.

"I think people need to know about what's available to them now," Kozelka said.