Yale University researchers have found that a drug developed to treat cancer helped to restore memory loss in mice engineered to develop a form of Alzheimer’s disease.

The findings, reported in the journal Annals of Neurology, suggest the drug —known as AZD05030, developed by Astra Zeneca — strengthens connections between brain cells linked to memory and learning.

If confirmed in follow-ups studies of Alzheimer’s patients, the drug may offer a new way to combat the memory-robbing disease, Medical Xpress reports.

AZD05030 proved disappointing in treating tumors but appears to block damage from the formation of amyloid-beta plaques in the brain — a hallmark of Alzheimer's. The new study, funded a National Institutes of Health program designed to test failed drugs on different diseases, has led to new clinical trials of the drug in Alzheimer's patients.

"With this treatment, cells under bombardment by beta amyloid plaques show restored synaptic connections and reduced inflammation, and the animal's memory, which was lost during the course of the disease, comes back," said lead researcher Stephen M. Strittmatter, a professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine.

Christopher P. Austin, M.D. — director of NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, which funded the work — called the study an important first step in fast-tracking promising new treatments for patients.

"The speed with which this compound moved to human trials validates our New Therapeutic Uses program model and serves our mission to deliver more treatments to more patients more quickly," said Dr. Austin.