Has Eli Lilly Found A Cure For Alzheimer's?

Shares of

have risen 26 percent over the past year, in large part due to speculation that the company could become the first pharmaceutical firm to roll out a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. This week, the company is

the results of its clinical trials at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Washington. If positive, they could mark a major step forward for both the fight against the degenerative disease as well as Eli Lilly shares.

Alzheimers represents a pharmaceutical gold mine for drug makers as there are no known treatments which combat the disease itself. Currently, doctors can only prescribe medication which alleviates some of the symptoms for suffers, but nothing on the market specifically targets the root of the disease itself.

Eli Lilly's latest drug, Solanezumab, may be the medical community's answer in the fight against Alzheimer's. An injectable treatment, Solanezumab

which cause patients' deterioration. If the results of the clinical studies are promising, the drug could be used to treat sufferers who are still in the early stages of Alzheimers and combined with other treatments, may also help those with more advanced cases.

Solanezumab isn't a sure thing just yet. Clinical trials in 2012 showed that the drug didn't have a significant impact on mild to moderate Alzheimer's patients. However, Eli Lilly scientists chose to continue researching the treatment despite its sky-high costs as patients with a mild case of the disease appeared to respond positively to treatment with Solanezumab. The results of those studies, which began back in 2013 will be disclosed at Wednesday's conference.