CARERS and charities across Essex have welcomed news of a scientific breakthrough which could slow the effects of Alzheimer’s.

The new drug solanezumab is the first to slowed the rate at which the disease damages the brain.

Susan Dulieu, 60, from Hadleigh witnessed first-hand the devastating impact of the condition on her mother and said: “I think it will be brilliant, any new drug is good news.

“I think it will help the younger people who are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

“People in their forties and fifties will benefit most, because they will be at the age when they should be slowing down, but for many of them, it feels like the end of their life, and it certainly does for their families.

“Even if it just slows down the disease it is brilliant.”

About 225,000 people develop dementia every year and Alzheimer’s Society research suggests 850,000 Britons have the condition.

Within the next ten years a million people are expected to have dementia with this number doubling by 2051.

Essex Dementia Care chief executive Debbie Davies said: “It’s good news. Any research and development we welcome for the people we work for.

“I hope it will be available soon for all patients and sufferers.

“I know it can take a bit of time to get new drugs tested and complete the research so practitioners can prescribe it, but it can make a difference to those who need it. But we certainly welcome the news.”

Dr Eric Karran, director of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said the drug had a "significant benefit" for people with a mild form of the disease, but stressed it was not a cure.

He said: "In the people who didn't get the drug, the people on a placebo, there was deterioration in their disease, as we would anticipate.

“In people who received the drug, the rate of their deterioration was slower by about 30 per cent. So when you looked at the two groups at 18 months, there was a clear difference.”