A promising new drug out of Canada may be able to reduce memory loss brought on by Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Etienne Sibille and his team at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto believe they’ve found a chemical compound that could reverse various types of brain-cell damage — including that caused by depression and aging, as well as by neurological disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s.

Their breakthrough drug is a type of benzodiazepene — similar to the sort used in anxiety and depression drugs, such as Valium and Xanax. According to the scientists, this chemical compound targets nerve receptors in the brain that have been linked to memory.

In an experiment, the researchers used the drug to treat mice with stress-induced memory loss. Both older and younger mice showed signs of improved memory after being treated — some, in as little as half an hour.

Sibille tells the Guardian that the drug could be a “gamechanger in how we treat depression.”

Clinical trials on humans are expected to begin in the next two years.