NORWICH, C.T. (WTNH)– Life launches all kinds of curve balls. In nearly 57 years of marriage, there hasn’t been anything Oliver and Barbara Bray haven’t been able to overcome. Now, it’s the daily battle against Alzheimer’s Disease.

Oliver says, “I know that I should know it, maybe it takes me two seconds, maybe a minute.”

He is in the middle of participating in Mindset, a global clinical trial that could lead to the FDA approving the newest drug in ten years. It’s a double blind study.

“Maybe I have the pill and maybe I don’t,” says Oliver.

Barbara stressed, “You have to keep fighting, and you have to try to maybe give hope to somebody else.”

Researchers are focused on the drug- RVT-101. It’s paired up with Aricept, which is currently the standard of care for slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s.

The two together, led to promising results in a previous study.

“They found the drug with Aricept worked much better than Aricept by itself,” says psychiatrist Dr. Mahmoud Okasha with Yale School of Medicine. “[There was] a significant improvement in both cognition and also activity in daily life.”

He is the principal investigator in Connecticut. RVT, he says, is designed to preserve more of an enzyme, which Alzheimer’s patients lose over time.

“It is an enzyme that is present in the brain and that helps and is essential for cognition, for memory. When it is lacking in it, it really leads to deterioration in the cognitive functions of the brain.”

More people like Oliver Bray, with mild to moderate stage of Alzheimer’s, are needed. It’s a 28 week commitment for participants.

Dr. Okasha says, “It will be a real breakthrough when the FDA approves it because I’m pretty sure, I’m pretty optimistic that this is a good drug and it’s going to be helpful for many people.”

He adds that once the FDA okays the drug, it will likely be put on a fast track, and could be available in less than five years.

For more information on the Mindset study, you can call Dr. Mahmoud Okasha at 860-886-1508 or log on to www.cpccare.com.

You can also go to www.alzheimersglobalstudy.com or call 855-654-9650.