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Drug Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease: Hopes and Challenges

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Abstract

At present, no effective cure is available to slow down or prevent progressive neuronal loss in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). All currently approved therapeutic agents provide symptomatic relief only. However, current agents under development exhibit potential protective effects on disease course. In this chapter, we consider currently marketed drugs for AD, including acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) and antagonists of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. This work also discusses potential cognitive enhancers under clinical trial. We also review new therapies that are likely to slow down disease progression by mechanisms unrelated to amyloid or tau.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the NHMRC Capacity Building Grant to Prof. Perminder Sachdev. Nady Braidy is the recipient of an Alzheimer’s Australia Viertel Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of New South Wales. We sincerely thank the Rebecca L. Cooper Medical Research Foundation for ongoing financial support of our research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Nady Braidy, Tharusha Jayasena & Perminder Sachdev

  2. School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Facility, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Anne Poljak

  3. Neuropsychiatric Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia

    Perminder Sachdev

Authors
  1. Nady Braidy
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  2. Anne Poljak
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  3. Tharusha Jayasena
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  4. Perminder Sachdev
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nady Braidy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA

    Richard M. Kostrzewa

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Braidy, N., Poljak, A., Jayasena, T., Sachdev, P. (2014). Drug Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease: Hopes and Challenges. In: Kostrzewa, R. (eds) Handbook of Neurotoxicity. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5836-4_141

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