A drug long used in Germany slows the rate of memory loss and physical decline in advanced Alzheimer's patients, according to a study of what could be the first effective treatment for late stages of the mind-robbing ailment. There is no cure or known prevention for Alzheimer's, which affects about 4 million Americans, and the only medications are approved for earlier stages of the disease. But a six-month test of the drug memantine in patients with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's showed it slowed deterioration from the disease, researchers report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine (news - web sites). "It's a...