PROVIDENCE – A new investigational drug has demonstrated a significant reduction in cognitive deficits in people who are living in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at Butler and Rhode Island hospitals and Brown University have reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. The drug, donanemab, from pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company, targets the amyloid plaque and tau protein build-ups in the brain that are associated with the development of Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. “This is yet another significant and encouraging milestone in what has proven to be a momentous year in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Stephen P. Salloway, one of the paper’s authors and head of Butler’s Memory and Aging Program. “In the last twelve months, we’ve seen significant advancements in diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s.”