Testing the right target and right drug at the right stage

Sci Transl Med. 2011 Nov 30;3(111):111cm33. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3002609.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the only leading cause of death for which no disease-modifying therapy is currently available. Recent disappointing trial results at the dementia stage of AD have raised multiple questions about our current approaches to the development of disease-modifying agents. Converging evidence suggests that the pathophysiological process of AD begins many years before the onset of dementia. So why do we keep testing drugs aimed at the initial stages of the disease process in patients at the end-stage of the illness?

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / drug therapy*
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology*
  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Humans
  • Molecular Targeted Therapy*