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Alzheimer’s Disease: Lessons Learned from Amyloidocentric Clinical Trials

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most debilitating neurodegenerative diseases and is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people by 2050. Despite much effort to discover a therapeutic strategy to prevent progression or to cure AD, to date no effective disease-modifying agent is available that can prevent, halt, or reverse the cognitive and functional decline of patients with AD. Several underlying etiologies to this failure are proposed. First, accumulating evidence from past trials suggests a preventive as opposed to therapeutic paradigm, and the precise temporal and mechanistic relationship of β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau protein should be elucidated to confirm this hypothesis. Second, we are in urgent need of revised diagnostic criteria to support future trials. Third, various technical and methodological improvements are required, based on the lessons learned from previous failed trials.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Medicine, National Hospital, Jl. Boulevard Famili Selatan Kav.1, Graha Famili, Surabaya, 60228, Indonesia

    Andreas Soejitno

  2. Department of General Medicine, Siloam General Hospital, Faculty of Medicine Pelita Harapan University, Tangerang, Indonesia

    Anastasia Tjan

  3. Department of Neurology, Sanglah General Hospital, Faculty of Medicine Udayana University, Denpasar, Indonesia

    Thomas Eko Purwata

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  1. Andreas Soejitno
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Correspondence to Andreas Soejitno.

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Andreas Soejitno, Anastasia Tjan, and Thomas E. Purwata declare that they have no conflicts of interest that are relevant to the contents of this review.

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Soejitno, A., Tjan, A. & Purwata, T.E. Alzheimer’s Disease: Lessons Learned from Amyloidocentric Clinical Trials. CNS Drugs 29, 487–502 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40263-015-0257-8

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