Joshua Grill, PhD, Director, Katherine and Benjamin Kagan Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment Development Program, University of California, discusses new drugs that are in development for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and stand the be the first disease-modifying therapies. Most therapies are aimed at beta amyloid via different mechanisms, ie enzymatic inhibitors, secretase inhibitors that try to stave off production of amyloid in the brain. Other therapies aim to remove beta amyloid from the brain, and receptor-based therapies aim to prevent amyloid beta from re-entering the CNS.
There are some therapies that are targeting neurofibrillary tangles but these are in an earlier stage of development.

Reading:

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De Strooper B, Vassar R, Golde T. The secretases: enzymes with therapeutic potential in Alzheimer disease. Nat Rev Neurol. 2010 Feb;6(2):99-107.

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