Lest people forget where “miracle” drugs come from, here’s a report from the New York Times about efforts to cure Alzheimer’s. This is encouraging:

IN the book “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH,” a group of lab rats acquire human intelligence through a genetic experiment. Every child recognizes the charming tale as pure fantasy, yet something similar is occurring at a major pharmaceuticals company, Wyeth, where rodents tested in its labs have, indeed, taken on some features of the human brain.

Unlike the fictional rats that learned to read, write and operate machinery, Wyeth’s animals are slow-witted, confused and forgetful because they suffer from the crippling dementia of Alzheimer’s disease, which they acquired from a transplanted human gene.

Something else extraordinary is going on at Wyeth. The company’s scientists not only can give rodents Alzheimer’s — they have also figured out how to take it away. Curing mice is a lot simpler than curing people, but the results are a tantalizing development that offers hope to humans suffering from the disease. The work also advances what Wyeth executives describe as their war on Alzheimer’s.

Wyeth’s team faces a formidable foe. In an industry often criticized as making pricey “me too” drugs that involve minor tweaks to competitors’ products, as well as promoting medicines of marginal value, Wyeth has decided to go full bore against Alzheimer’s, a disease that has defied effective treatment since it was first identified a century ago. The company has dedicated more than 350 scientists exclusively to Alzheimer’s research, and they are working on 23 separate projects for medicines to possibly treat the disease.

Wyeth has already spent $450 million in research funds.