HIV drug could fend off early-onset dementia, new research suggests

Helping people to form links between different memories could stave off declining brain function, reports Joe Middleton

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An HIV drug could fend off early onset dementia in middle-aged people by helping them make links between different memories, new research suggests.

Our brains do not often record single memories but instead store them in groups, meaning that thinking about a specific incident can prompt us into remembering other things that are linked to it.

As we age this linking ability lessens, but scientists believe a drug called maraviroc could hold the solution to declining brain function and our ability to remember.